Duality
by Akela Victoire
Summary: Two worlds, two kingdoms, two choices. Malcolm, Roxy's oldest child discovers that he is not just heir to his mother's future kingdom, but is heir to the man he never knew was his father's kingdom as well. The choice is not that simple however, as both realms have their own enemies and wars to fight and making his father's identity known would not help matters...
1. The Unknown Father

Holy Crap! _Another_ next-gen fic?

_YES. _Another next-gen fic. This one however, is _completely unrelated_ to **_Game Changer_** though. If you haven't read that one, feel free to as well!

I decided to post this today the 28th January, 2014 since it is the ten year anniversary of Winx Club. It might have gone downhill since Nickelodeon got hold of it in my opinion, but I celebrate all the good parts.

**_I hope you all enjoy this one!_**

* * *

><p>"Roxy, are you even listening to me?"<p>

"I uh... what? I'm sorry, Mother. What were you saying?" The pink-haired woman tucked the cell phone she had been staring at into her pocket suddenly as her dark-haired mother stopped walking down the long hallway alongside her.

"Roxy, you have been rather distracted all day. I was just telling you about suggestions that the Council had for celebrating the secondary heir to Tir Nan Og's throne's birthday after yourself. Malcolm will be turning eighteen in a month's time after all..." The older woman gestured to a large, framed photograph on the wall of a tall, lean dark-haired young man with blue eyes behind a pair of thin-framed rectangular glasses.

"Yes. He's gotten to this stage of his life so fast... Him and Tatiana both, since she'll finally be hitting the double figures this year..." Roxy smiled briefly at the thought.

"Yes. _Indeed._ They are both lucky that our inheritance laws are not as old fashioned as some monarchies are, otherwise neither of them would be able to inherit since they were both conceived and given birth to out of wedlock..." Morgana frowned slightly.

"I know that, Mother. Mistakes were made in the past when it comes to them and their circumstances of birth, but I'm being a great mother to them aren't I? And a good Crown Princess otherwise?" Roxy's tone was cool.

"Yes you are, but you do realise that some other royals will look on him as lower because of that? And the fact that no one know who his and Tatiana's fathers are?" Morgana pointed out, gazing at another photo on the wall, this one displaying a photo of a girl with curly blonde hair just past her shoulders and eyes the same shade of blue as her brother's.

"Well I know who their _father_ is. As in _one._ For _both_ of them. And what do I care about those other royals? Malcolm and Tatiana are both mine, that can't be disputed. They are my children and my heirs no matter what." Roxy rolled her eyes. "Besides, haven't "illegitimate" children been able to inherit the throne on some of the major magical planets before? So why should this matter?"

"It matters because we have only relatively recently rejoined the magical dimension and besides you and your children, there have not been any born heirs to Tir Nan Og's throne in centuries, ever since the Wizards of the Black Circle waged their campaign of destruction against us..." Morgana pointed out.

"At least your son will have willing and ready allies in Solaria and Andros at the very least. Princess Astoria and Prince Duncan are good friends with him and can certainly help guide him if he decides to study there once he is finished with High School back in Los Angeles." The former queen continued.

"He shows no interest in going to study at any of the schools in Magix, Mother. He's aiming for Ivy League schools back in the U.S. and with his grades in school and his royal status, he's sure to get in. I mean, I teach him not to flaunt his title about unnecessarily, but I'm sure that many schools there would want to have the honour of having an actual American-born royal walk their halls..." Roxy pointed out.

"That is true, but he also needs to further his magical education. You, me and your aunt do our best to teach him magic well, but both Nebula and I would feel his potential would be better fulfilled if he studied somewhere like Red Fountain for instance or perhaps even Oskuria College..."

"He specifically told me that he doesn't want to go Red Fountain. Red Fountain is a school for future warriors. Malcolm is not interested in becoming a warrior or soldier of any kind. He just wants to be a good ruler and help with Tir Nan Og's rebuilding process that is still going on even after twenty five years... As for Oskuria College... He likes the idea of there, but he prefers to stay here on Earth..." Roxy gazed out one of the high, arched windows lining one side of the hallway, briefly admiring the beauty of the realm she would someday be Queen of and her son would eventually become King of.

Morgana sighed. "Your mind is mostly elsewhere today, daughter dear. Go on back to Los Angeles. I have business with Nebula in regards to celebrating Malcolm's birthday, among other important things..."

"You're right. My mind is elsewhere... Sorry Mother. We should probably try finishing off this conversation another day..." Roxy pulled out her phone and glanced at it again.

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Very well. I will hold you to that." The older woman walked away as Roxy began going through her text messages and came up on one in particular.

_"I'm just reminding you about our little meeting tomorrow night. I called you about it last week, remember?"_

Roxy frowned as she typed a reply.

_"How could I forget a meeting with you? Especially as it concerns who it does, after all these years?"_

She made it to her own personal quarters within the palace before the reply came.

_"I'm trying to do the right thing here, Roxy. It should never be too late to do this for them- if they want it."_

_"Too little too late. Too little too late. Regardless of the circumstances. I was ready to, but you weren't and I wasn't about to stir the pot without the assistant chef nearby, so to speak."_

_"At least promise me you won't immediately dismiss me out of hand when I see you tonight."_

Roxy sighed as she typed her last reply before turning off the phone.

_"Only if you don't spout off BS meaningless platitudes."_

Putting it back into her pocket, she went to freshen up before returning to her home and her children.

* * *

><p>Malcolm Klaus, Prince of Tir Nan Og, American high school student and resident of Los Angeles, California, sat up in bed suddenly, running his fingers through his dark hair, looking dazed.<p>

"That was just a dream... Thank goodness..." He breathed.

Swinging himself out of bed, he stretched and yawned a bit before beginning to get ready for the day.

Pulling the curtains that hid the doors to his balcony from view, he basked in the morning sun for a few minutes before heading to his large, walk-in closet to select his attire for the day.

Once clean and dressed, he headed for the stairs to go find himself breakfast. Even though his family was literally royalty (something his schoolmates and acquaintances from this city and its environs envied), his mother insisted that they all live as close to normal as possible.

He scoffed at the notion.

_"Not even this giant house is normal. We're not normal people and we never will be normal people however much she tries..." _He thought. _"Still, I do like not being surrounded by servants wanting to do everything for you all the time. Even some royals like doing some things on their own..."_

He glanced down the long staircase.

"Ah what the hell. I'll just take a shortcut." He shrugged, before a silver light flashed around him briefly and he swung over the side of the rails, doing a somersault and landing perfectly on his feet, seeming completely unperturbed at the fact that he just landed from several feet high.

He quickly set to work in the kitchen, rummaging around to see what was available for eating.

Once he was done, he pulled a stool up to the island counter and began digging in.

Sometime later, he heard more footsteps coming down the stairs, but didn't look up.

"Malcolm dear, are you doing anything this afternoon?" Roxy asked as she greeted him in the kitchen, rummaging around for breakfast, Tatiana close behind her.

"Well... no. I was going to go out with Lydia, but you know what became of that earlier this week..." Malcolm frowned at the thought.

"Oh... Well, I need you to take your sister out for a few hours after school." Roxy opened the refrigerator door and snapped her fingers, causing a bunch of grapes in there to float over to Tatiana, who snatched them out of mid-air and promptly began wolfing them down.

Malcolm looked up from his plate of French toast topped with berries and whipped cream.

His mother was doing her best to hide it, but he could detect a hint of unease in both her tone and her body language.

Her movements were less... _natural_ looking and though you couldn't hear it unless you were specifically listening for it, his mother's voice had risen in pitch, like he noticed it tended to do when she was stressed or otherwise upset about something.

"Any reason in particular?" He asked casually, twirling his fork idly between mouthfuls of breakfast.

"Oh... A political meeting of sorts. A ruler of a kingdom in the Magix dimension asked for a private meeting with the Crown Princess of Tir Nan Og..." Roxy shrugged.

"But mommy, don't you normally hold those political meeting thingies like that in Tir Nan Og itself?" Tatiana piped up through mouthfuls of fruit.

"This one is different, dear. Anyway, Malcolm, I need you and Tatiana to make yourselves scarce. Go see a movie, eat dinner, go to the zoo... _again... _Whatever." Roxy buttered her toast a little more aggressively than she normally would have.

"Ooh! Ooh! Can we go see Grandma and Grampy Klaus up in Gardenia then?" Tatiana asked eagerly.

"I'm sure they'll be glad to see you two again. They and your great-aunt were asking about you when I went to Tir Nan Og yesterday..." Roxy said. "Malcolm?" She turned to him.

"It's a three hour drive one way and I haven't quite gotten teleport spells mastered yet..." Malcolm pointed out.

"Then go pack your bags now and you can drive up there after school and spend the whole weekend." Roxy suggested.

"Yay!" With her mouth still full of food, Tatiana sprinted out of the kitchen.

"All of this because some ruler of a kingdom is coming to visit you? Mother, Tati and I are used to this. We're all royalty here, your mother and aunt are royalty, you're friends with the Winx and their spouses, which includes several royals and nobility members... Why do you so blatantly want us out of the way?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

"Never you mind that." Roxy said in a tone that left no room for argument and Malcolm wasn't stupid enough to try. His mother was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry. "When you finish your breakfast, go on and get ready for school and pack your things to go visit your grandparents. I have to go get ready for work myself..."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Tati, have you noticed anything off about our mother lately?" Malcolm asked as he drove his car to Gardenia, his sister in the back seat.<p>

"Mom seems a little... angrier than usual lately. I heard her on the phone last week. I didn't exactly hear what she said (and I think spells had something to do with that!), but she sounded _really_ mad then..." She said, pausing between mouthfuls of chocolate chip cookies to answer her brother.

"Huh. Maybe it's not anything for us to really worry about. Maybe she just doesn't like dealing with this King or Queen person she has to meet with. Maybe that call was linked to it. And maybe... I'm just over-analyzing things again. If it's important enough, she will tell us, right? She doesn't hide important information from us..." Malcolm said, more to himself than his sister.

* * *

><p>"Roxy?"<p>

"In the living room..."

Roxy didn't move from her armchair in the living room when she heard Sky's voice suddenly in her house.

_"You're late."_ Roxy pointed out the clock above the doorway that the Eraklyonese king had just entered.

"I had to cover for myself. No one must know I was here tonight..." Sky explained.

"Oh excuses, excuses. Why are you really here? I'm not letting you touch me like that again..." Roxy folded her arms and glared at him as he took a seat across from her.

"I didn't come here for that Roxy. We agreed to end that a long time ago, remember? I am here to talk about Malcolm and Tatiana. My children. _Our children._"

"It's been almost eighteen years since Malcolm was born, almost ten since I gave birth to Tatiana, almost eight since we agreed to end our affair. Tell me: why do you want to talk about them now?" Roxy raised an eyebrow.

"It's been years, Roxy. My own wife cannot give me the heirs I want..." Sky started, but Roxy cut him off.

"Oh! So finally want to talk about Malcolm and Tatiana because your wife can't give you any children, but I did?" Roxy scoffed.

"I... I have been thinking about it for some time now Roxy... I want to acknowledge them both as my heirs. Malcolm and Tatiana should be my heirs."

Roxy's scowl intensified, which was something Sky never thought possible in the twenty five years since he had met the Crown Princess of Tir Nan Og.

"_You..._ you want to _what?_" Even though she didn't shout, Sky still winced at her tone.

"I want to acknowledge them as heirs to the throne of Eraklyon. I want to have a legitimization ceremony for them. I want to do what's right for them. I want to admit my faults. That I'm a human who has made mistakes. How can I be an honourable king if I refuse to acknowledge my children as mine?" Sky asked.

"Took you long enough to develop your "honour." Roxy scoffed.

"How does that Earth saying go? "Better late than never?"" Sky asked.

"Not when it comes to _children,_ Sky! Not when it comes to children. _My_ children in particular!" Roxy screeched. "Besides, how would we decide which child inherits which throne? You are King of Eraklyon. I am Crown Princess of Tir Nan Og. We both need heirs to our respective worlds and if you think for one moment that I'd ship either of them off to Eraklyon with Bloom as a stepmother and all the scandal this will provide for gossip papers both on Earth and the different planets in Magix, then you are much more deluded than I thought. Perhaps you aren't fully recovered from that bout of amnesia that you had back in my first year at Alfea... " The animal fairy sneered.

"I thought that as two grown adults, we could discuss this maturely. Clearly I was wrong..." Sky remarked dryly.

"Well considering the times we were alone together as "two grown adults", particularly in two notable instances..." Roxy inclined her head towards the large framed photo of herself, Malcolm and Tatiana taken at Disneyland a few years before on the shelf just behind her. "...I think it's time for you to go before we end up adding _another_ baby to this whole mess..."

"But why don't you understand? I'm trying to do what's right for both Malcolm and Tatiana! They deserve to know who their father is, after all this time!" Sky exclaimed angrily.

"_Exactly!_ Why after _all this time? _Why not then? Why wait until now? Is it just because Bloom can't have kids that you want to take mine away from me and officially declare them your heirs? Actually admit that you're not as perfect as you think you are because you cheated on your wife?" Roxy said nastily.

"I'm not going to take them away from you, Roxy! Besides, they're not only your kids, Roxy. They are mine as well. I wanted to do this for years, even before Bloom and I found out she couldn't have children!"

"Oh really? You certainly didn't act like it when I told you I was pregnant with Malcolm. And then I actually carried on with you until about a year or two after Tatiana was on the scene. Having an affair with you was the biggest mistake of my life. Yet out of that mistake came two wonderful children that will remain heirs to _only_ Tir Nan Og. I'm not going to ruin that for them and upset their lives like this. I'm not a naïve young woman trying to find herself anymore, Sky. I think it's time you realized that." Roxy turned her back to him. "You need to leave. I'm expecting a call from_ my _children soon since they should almost be in Gardenia by now." She said curtly.

"They're not just _your_ children, Roxy. You couldn't get yourself pregnant, even with magic. I'm trying to do what's right and you won't listen to reason. At least think about it. Even if they don't want to be acknowledged officially as my heirs, they at least deserve to know the truth. I'm tired of trying to be a father from behind the scenes." Sky pressed a button on the silver bracelet on his wrist and a portal opened up in front of him.

"No promises." Roxy snapped.

She sunk into a nearby chair as the King of Eraklyon disappeared into the portal.

"What the hell did I get myself into? All my mistakes are coming back to haunt me... I really love those two kids of mine, but if I let Sky do what he's asking to... all our lives will go completely upside down... And the Winx... what will they think of me? They helped me so much all those years ago... especially Bloom!" Roxy put her head in her hands and sighed.

"The time is going to come where they'll have to know soon, but even after all these years, I don't know if I'm ready for that even now. I know I should be woman enough to admit that I was wrong. It's very hypocritical of me to tell Sky to grow up and yet I don't..." She groaned, rubbing her forehead, which had started to throb.

Her cell phone rang from somewhere in the house, startling her out of her thoughts.

"And that should be the very same children calling that Sky and I were just arguing about..." Roxy got up to find her cell phone.

"HEY MOMMY!" Tatiana's loud voice almost bowled over her mother.

"Ouch! Hey Tati! How are you?" Roxy tried to sound peppier.

"Great! Malcolm and I just got to Grandma and Grandpa's house! Grandma's going to take me out for ice-cream later and Malcolm's going to the Music Bar with Grandpa to hang out for a bit!" Tatiana said excitedly.

"That's great sweetheart. Have fun!" Roxy smiled to herself at hearing how happy her daughter sounded.

_"I need to go have a drink or something and try to think about what Sky proposed. As much as I would like to, I can't just dismiss it out of hand..."_ She sighed and leaned against the wall, allowing herself to sink to the floor as she ended the call.


	2. The Birthday Gala

"Hey man. Looking forward to that big party of yours this weekend. Want anything from my future kingdom?" The holographic image of a light-brown skinned, blue-eyed, brown-haired young man hovered over Malcolm's phone as he sat with in on the balcony of his bedroom.

"Get rid of that stupid hair of yours and that would be a good enough gift for me, Duncan." Malcolm teased.

"I'm not cutting my hair. I like it like this!" Duncan exclaimed, making a show of running his fingers through his long, shaggy hair.

"Astoria likes it like that too, doesn't she?" Malcolm grinned.

"You know it, man!" Duncan grinned back. "Anyway, you said your mom invited some friends of yours from Earth as well as Magix to this thing?"

"That's right. It's been too long since I've seen you all. I'm glad she invited you all for it. It'll be good to see you all in person again..." Malcolm smiled.

"You'd see us more often if you came to Magix to study. I mean, Evanne's going into Sophomore year, Elodie and Nathan are going to be Juniors, Sophia's going to be a Freshman, Astoria and I will both be Seniors... You'd have plenty of company from both Alfea and Red Fountain!"

"...yeah, sure. I'm going to be a Freshman here on Earth, hopefully at an Ivy League school." Malcolm said.

"Psh. You're Crown Prince of Tir Nan Og and you do really well in school. They can't turn you away and they'd be nuts if they did. No man, you need to come to Red Fountain with me. You'd just be a Freshman, I know, but I could still show you the ropes..."

"...I'm not interested in what Red Fountain teaches. I'm perfectly fine with honing both my magical and mental skills here." Malcolm insisted.

"Nothing's going to change your mind, is it?" Duncan asked.

"It would take something major for me to change my mind." The prince of Tir Nan Og nodded.

"Then here's for something major." Duncan raised an imaginary glass.

"Please don't. If we have the luck of our mothers, we'd get more than what you just asked for..." Malcolm shuddered at the thought.

"It's been like what, twenty five years since anything like that happened? What's the likelihood of it happening now?" Duncan pointed out.

"A valid point." Malcolm acknowledged.

"Wow. Duncan's making a valid point about something? I'm surprised..." A female voice said before a teenage girl with light brown skin, dark blue eyes and shoulder-length maroon braids pulled back into a ponytail appeared next to Duncan, shoving him away and completely ignoring his objections to being shoved.

Malcolm chuckled. "Hi Evanne. Looking forward to my gala/birthday party thing this Saturday?"

"Yup! Got my outfit and its accessories picked out, I know what hairstyle I'll be rocking and everything. Unlike my brother's girlfriend... Astoria called me this morning to ask my opinion on at least a dozen outfits!" Evanne said, half amused, half annoyed.

"Good old Astoria..." Malcolm laughed.

"Don't make fun of Astoria!" Duncan exclaimed, finally rejoining his sister in the projection.

"We'll make fun of her if we damn well please, Duncan. Anyway, we like her, remember?" Evanne pointed out.

"Yes, but still..." Duncan grumbled.

"Don't bother with another one of your spats, please." Malcolm checked his watch. "Anyway, mom is busy so I'm going to go pick up Tatiana from her ballet lesson. I'll see you two Saturday." Malcolm ended the call and got up to stretch, before making his way down to the garage to retrieve his car.

* * *

><p>"I'll see you all on Monday, everyone. Claire, you're in charge until I get back. I'd invite you all as well, but <em>someone<em> has to hold down the fort here while I go take care of Princess/Mom duties..." Roxy shrugged off the white coat that she wore as a vet at her own veterinary clinic, Magic Paws.

"No problem, Dr. Klaus. I wouldn't be much good at that mingling with royalty thing anyway..." Claire, a blonde-haired, grey eyed woman a few years younger than her answered, as some of the other staffers there nodded in agreement.

"You mingle with _me _every day, don't you?" Roxy began packing up her personal items into her oversized olive green handbag.

"But that's _different._ Here, you're just Dr. Roxy Klaus, veterinarian, friend to all animals. There, you're Crown Princess Roxanne of Tir Nan Og..." Someone else, this time a man older than her with salt-and-pepper hair spoke up.

"I guess I see your point. Still, I'm lucky that I can still work doing what I love, while being Crown Princess. And when royal duties call, I have a great staff here to look after things when I can't." Roxy snapped her bag shut and flung the coat over her shoulder.

"You flatter us." The man said, smiling slightly.

"Not just flattery. Truth, Roger..." Roxy smiled back and waved to them as she left the building and went out to her car.

She'd just locked herself in the car, tossed her things into the backseat and was ready to start the ignition when her cell phone rang.

She narrowed her eyes at the phone, but after a few seconds, decided to answer it- without the video projection in case anyone was watching.

"Yes, _Sky?_" She asked flatly.

_"Listen. I know that Malcolm's birthday celebration is this Saturday and..."_

"Yes, you and Bloom can still come, but if you think that you can spill the beans about..." Roxy started.

_"No, no! Not like that, no! I want to give him a present. A letter if you will. With a choice. I want him to choose if he wants to know me as his father. Can I trust you to let me give it to him at his party?" _

Roxy remained stony faced and silent for almost a full minute.

_"Hello?"_ Sky called out, unsure if she was still there.

"_I..._ Does Bloom know about all this? What you intend to do? Hell, does she even know about us? Malcolm and Tatiana?" Roxy sighed.

_"She... I admitted that I had an affair that produced two children, but not their identities, who or where their mother is or how long the affair went on..." _Sky sighed.

"I did think about it since our last in-person... _discussion_ a month ago but... I guess we couldn't hide it forever, could we? Though how we managed to hide our affair for eleven years while it was going on and the eight years since that, especially since we are who we are..." Roxy rubbed her temple, feeling a headache coming on.

_"...well? About my giving Malcolm that letter?"_ Sky asked again.

"_I'll _take it and _I'll _give it to him _after _the party. Fairy's promise. " Roxy relented after another period of stony silence. "You do know that he's going to hate us for all this deception, right? Tatiana too, since she deserves to know as well..."

_"Of course. I was thinking that once Malcolm knows, you and I could then let Tatiana know separately..."_

"I... I need to get home. I had a long day at work and then this... and the arrangements for Saturday..." Roxy groaned.

_"I don't blame you. It's only morning in my part of Eraklyon and besides this, I also have three different meetings scheduled that are sure to be fun..."_ Sky said sarcastically.

"It's all our fault, you know. Those two are innocent in all this. They didn't ask to be born under such circumstances..." Roxy said sadly.

_"I know. Malcolm will soon be an adult in your world and I know that I should have manned up and been there from before. As for Tatiana, I can only hope she can see me as her father for the rest of her childhood and beyond it..."_

"_Indeed..._ I really have to go home now." Roxy hung up before Sky could speak again.

Putting away her phone and taking another few minutes to compose herself, she finally started up the car and drove off.

* * *

><p><em>"Hello, hello!"<em>

Princess Astoria twirled the Sceptre of Solaria in her hand as she appeared in the courtyard of Tir Nan Og in a flash of golden light.

"Hey, Tori. How are you?" Malcolm stood there with his mother, grandmother, grandfather and great-aunt.

"Oh, I'm fine. Anyone else here yet?" Astoria flicked a strand of her long, dark brown hair out of her face and slipped the Sceptre, now in its Ring form, back onto a finger on her right hand.

Malcolm chuckled. "You're the last one to get here, actually..."

Astoria blinked.

"Oh well. I guess I really do have a problem with being late..." Her silver-blue eyes shone as she giggled.

"Oh no. You're not late. You're right on time actually. The others were just early..." Malcolm chuckled again.

"I see... Oh! How rude of me! Greetings, Your Majesties, Sir..." Astoria offered a slight bow to Roxy, Morgana, Nebula and Rick.

"Good evening, Princess Astoria. Malcolm's other friends from Magix are all based in the East Wing for this weekend..." Nebula said.

"That sounds lovely..." Astoria smiled.

"Malcolm will show you there. There is still much to do before tomorrow evening..." Nebula led her niece, sister and brother-in-law off.

"So, what's the schedule like? What are we doing?" Astoria asked as they stepped on an energy disc that took them up to the entrance.

"We're just hanging out, having a bit of fun and such before the big day tomorrow. Last I left them, Duncan, Lucian and some of my Earth friends were having a dance-off, Evanne, Sophia, Elodie and some of the other girls were clustered around some fashion/celebrity magazines from both Magix and Earth, and Nathan and the few sane ones were pretty much just sitting back and watching the madness unfold..." Malcolm chuckled.

"Sounds like a great time. Sophia's sisters aren't coming? I didn't hear you mention them..." Astoria wondered.

"They're not coming until Tecna and Timmy bring them tomorrow. They're not on break like you are, remember?" Malcolm said.

"Neither is Sophia. She hasn't started at Alfea yet, remember?" Astoria pointed out.

Malcolm shrugged. "Maybe it's because they're younger, I dunno... Tatiana gets along with them well enough though. I'm sure she'll be glad to see them when they do get here. Anyway, are you ready to enjoy your last free weekend before everyone has to go back to school in Magix?"

"I sure am! This weekend is going to be great!" Astoria exclaimed as they walked through the halls of the palace until they reached a pair of large, arched mahogany doors with stained glass windows.

Malcolm swung them open and gestured for Astoria to go in before him.

"Welcome to the East Wing, Astoria. I'll show you to your room for the weekend. Sophia is on one side and Evanne is on the other, so your weekend is sure to be _fun._" Malcolm teased.

"Joy..." Astoria grumbled.

A few minutes later, they had found Astoria's room, put her luggage in a corner and headed back out again.

"And here we are..." Malcolm swung open another door and the noise hit them as soon as they entered.

"Hey Malcolm! Welcome back!" A silver-bluish black haired young man with dark blue eyes, pale skin and a small goatee appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Welcoming me back to my own place, Lucian? I see how it is now..." Malcolm grinned.

"Don't mind that clown. He doesn't know any better." Lucian's twin was identical to him except his hair was slightly longer, messier and he was beardless.

"And Nathan thinks he's so smart..." Lucian rolled his eyes.

"Neither of you are smart. Case closed." A girl with wavy ginger hair and turquoise eyes approached the group.

"Ah, Sophia. The baby of the Winx Kids!" Lucian teased.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "I'm not the baby. Kendra is. She and Alanis are younger than me, remember?"

"Yeah. but you're the youngest here right now. Only 15 and not even a Freshman at Alfea yet. He kinda has a point..." Malcolm pointed out.

"Spoilsport..." Sophia grumbled. "Just you wait until I get to Alfea. I'll learn to hex you to oblivion!"

"Wrong school, Sophie dear. That's an ambition worth of Cloud Tower..." Astoria said loftily.

"Maybe I'll make the switch then!" Sophia muttered.

"It isn't that easy once you've already gained a fairy transformation, is it?" Malcolm asked curiously as he, Sophia, the twins and Astoria walked along.

"No, but it _could_ be done. Anyway, I'm perfectly fine with being a fairy, really. I still say that learning hexes would be fun though..." Sophia said.

"Yeah, I can see them coming in useful in a fight..." Malcolm nodded in agreement.

"That fairy form of hers though... The boots don't even match!" Astoria exclaimed.

"Drives mom and dad up a wall, with their OCD tendencies and everything..." The ginger-haired girl grinned.

"Hey, my good man!" Duncan approached them, Evanne close behind him.

"Duncan! Good to see you in person again!" Malcolm high-fived the Prince of Andros.

"Forgotten about _me,_ have you?" Evanne stood nearby, watching the two princes greet each other.

"Why no, my dear princess. How could I forget such a lovely lady as yourself?" Malcolm kissed her hand, causing her to giggle and others around them to wolf-whistle.

_"That's one smooth bastard..."_ Malcolm heard Nathan's (or was it Lucian's?) voice among them.

"Oh _come on_, everyone! It was just her hand!" Malcolm rolled his eyes.

"He's lucky that's _all_ he kissed..." Duncan joked.

"Oh hush, Duncan..." Evanne waved him off.

"Well then, my good man. I've finally seen you, but Astoria is _finally_ here and she and I have some... _catching up_ to do..." Duncan reached for Astoria's hand and they walked away together.

Sophia soon wandered away, leaving only Malcolm and Evanne together.

"I have yet to see Elodie now. Where is she hiding?" Malcolm looked around.

"Girl with the dark blue hair, black bangs and green eyes?" A brown-haired girl walking past asked.

"Yeah. I mean her, Jessica..." Malcolm nodded.

"She and a few others were headed for your library, last I heard..." Jessica said.

"Well, we're not going to get her out of there anytime soon..." Malcolm grumbled. "Thanks, Jess."

"No problem, Mac. Now, I have a script to go read. I still can't believe that I got a main role on a television show!" Jessica reached into her satchel and pulled out a bound stack of paper.

"Yeah, good luck with that..." Malcolm said as she walked off.

"One, "_Mac."_ Really? Two, a lot of people from this Los Angeles place seem to want to get into the entertainment business..." Evanne observed.

"First off, Mac is just a nickname the people from school gave me. Two, Los Angeles and nearby Hollywood are pretty much the top entertainment capitals of the United States of America, if not Earth..." Malcolm pointed out.

"Oh yeah. Duncan and I should come back to Earth and play tourist there sometime then..."

"And I'll be glad to welcome you back. Now, let's see if we can go find Elodie and drag her away from the books, shall we?"

"I enjoy a challenge..." Evanne smiled as she allowed Malcolm to lead her off.

* * *

><p>The Grand Hall of Tir Nan Og was alive with activity as various employees of the Royal Court bustled about, getting it ready for the event it was to host the next evening.<p>

"My grandson is eighteen. I almost cannot believe it..." Morgana commented as she took in the preparations along with her husband, daughter and sister.

"Neither can I. It feels like just the other day that you and the other trapped Earth Fairies were freed and our family was made whole again." Klaus squeezed his wife's hand briefly.

"A family which came as quite the surprise to me, but family nevertheless..." Nebula remarked dryly.

"I am proud of my son. Malcolm may only be eighteen, but he has a good head on his shoulders. I have done my best to ensure that being royal doesn't go to his or Tatiana's heads . In the years to come, Tir Nan Og will need well-rounded, intelligent leaders who will know good advice when they hear it and hopefully follow it, after all. Overconfidence and arrogance will not help matters." Roxy's eyes followed a group of men as they began moving in and arranging furniture on the far side of the Hall.

"Tatiana is coming along well in her magic lessons with me as well. She's going to grow up to be quite the fighter!" Nebula said proudly.

"You haven't been putting my granddaughter through too much, have you?" Klaus raised an eyebrow at the Fairy of War and Peace.

"_Too much?_ Ha! She's not quite ten years old yet and she's got the hang of quite a few basic spells! I can't wait until she's older and has gained her first fairy form and can do more advanced things!" Nebula laughed.

"Should I be concerned for her?" Roxy raised an eyebrow at her aunt.

"Knowing your aunt, yes." Morgana said.

"And there's the Grand Staircase that we'll all be entering down tomorrow. I hope I don't end up tripping down it like I did for that wretched Princess Ball years ago..." Roxy frowned at the memory as she looked at the large, centre staircase that rested between two smaller ones on either side with mahogany rails and gold plaiting.

"After how many years, I hope you would have improved in your gracefulness..." Morgana looked at her daughter.

"_Anyway..._ I know the guest list was long finalized, but I want to go over it again, just to be prepared. I know my college roommates and their families, the Winx, their spouses and some of their other relatives will be there..." Roxy counted them off on her fingers.

"Well, Queen Genevieve of Telum will be in attendance, along with her daughter Crown Princess Gabrielle..." Morgana said.

Roxy and her father groaned in unison.

"Tell me: Why did we invite _her_ again? Genevieve, I mean. I don't mind Gabrielle..." Roxy asked.

"I know she can be downright... _unsettling_ at times, but her planet will be a valuable trade partner in the future..." Nebula pointed out.

"She can't be _that_ valuable..." Klaus muttered.

"Such is the life of us royals. Dealing with other royals we'd rather not deal with at all..." Roxy sighed.

"Anyway, things here seem to be going well enough. We should go check to see if our garments are ready from the dressmakers and tailors..." Nebula led them out of the hall.

"You do that. I need to go check on Tatiana. She was _supposed_ to be finishing up her Charms Theory homework and if she's like any normal nine year old, she'll still be groaning about having to do it..." Roxy separated from them.

* * *

><p>"Glad to see you out of the library at last..." Astoria, with her hair up in a bun held back by a silver tiara embedded with diamonds, walked alongside Elodie in the Grand Hall. The Solarian princess wore a form-fitting long-sleeved, floor-length gown with diamond embellishments under the bust and around the waistline and silver stilettos were her footwear, of a height that made Elodie wonder how she was actually walking in them without stumbling.<p>

"I don't spend all my time in the library!" Elodie tucked a few strands of dark blue and black hair behind her ear.

"Yes, but you _do_ spend a significant amount of time in there. More than any _normal_ person would!"

"Oh shut up, Astoria..." Elodie grumbled, pulling up her wrist-length black gloves, smoothing down her strapless, knee-length, layered dark green dress with black trim and reached down to adjust the straps on her black, low-heeled peep-toe shoes.

"Next semester, you're going to get a _real_ social life. My roommates would be glad to help you out with that. Maya, Natasha and Cecilia want to help..."

"Wait..." Narrowed, olive green eyes met blue ones. "Your... your roommates are in on this?!" Elodie exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Oh yeah. Cecilia especially wants to get her hands on you and give you a full makeover. And you know how Lia is when she sets her sights on her goal..." Astoria said, waving her right hand causally, causing the gems embedded in her sceptre-ring to glisten in the lights above.

"_Cecilia?_ Oh, Dragon, no... I'm going to have to sleep with one eye open, aren't I?" Elodie sighed.

"You sure are. Cecilia isn't all there..." Evanne walked over to them, making the cuckoo sign.

The Princess of Andros's hair was down and curly and she wore a floor-length, sleeveless, halter-top light blue gown with a sheer, white shawl around her shoulders pinned together with a pearl pin. Simple-elbow-length gloves adorned her arms and matching pumps adorned her feet.

"Alfea sounds like so much fun! I can't wait until I start there in a few months!" Sophia squealed, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and startling the other three girls.

"Dragon, Sophia! Don't _do_ that!" Evanne exclaimed, annoyed.

"But... it's _fun!_" Sophia re-adjusted the black headband that was holding her hair back since it slipped when she jumped at them. The ginger-haired girl wore a dark purple knee-length dress with black broad straps, black waistband, matching heels with bows on the toes and matching gloves that almost came up to her shoulders.

Elodie sighed. "Sophia, when you get to Alfea, the other girls aren't going to appreciate that if you keep appearing out of nowhere, like that..."

"I don't appear out of nowhere. I can't teleport, silly! Astoria's the only one of us who can!" Sophia waved her off. "Anyway, what were you saying about this Cecilia?"

Astoria, Evanne and Elodie looked at one another strangely.

"... Astoria seems to think that I need a makeover and her roommates including Cecilia seem to agree with her." Elodie rolled her eyes.

"Why, Astoria? She looks fine!" Evanne exclaimed.

"Yeah, but she could look even better! All those plain clothes... And she has some _really_ nice legs. She should totally show them off more!" Astoria looked at the part of Elodie's legs that she could see.

"But_ I am fine _with my fashion sense! Besides if your fashion sense is anything like your mother's was that year when our moms dealt with Tritannus, then I don't need your help. My powers already come from plants. I don't need you to try making me look like a walking salad, providing a mobile buffet for the herbivores out there..." Elodie said flatly, making Astoria growl and the other two girls giggle.

"What's so funny over here, ladies?" Nathan, Lucian and Duncan approached the girls.

The Prince of Andros had his (usually) messy hair pulled into a neat ponytail and wore navy blue pants and matching vest over a white dress shirt while the twins wore matching dark grey suits with black ties.

"Woah. Aside from physical features, you two are actually matching!" Sophia looked them up and down.

"Why thank you. We do like to do that occasionally, you know..." Lucian said.

"So, where's the 'rents? Haven't seen them since we escaped..." Nathan wondered.

"Escaped? Escaped _what,_ exactly?" Astoria raised an eyebrow.

"Being roped into meeting some of the snootier royals present, especially as your mother was the one leading the charge. I mean, sure mom's friends with Princess Galatea, but she's cool..." Lucian explained.

Trumpets sounded as their players, two pairs of fairies, stood to either side of the grand staircase.

"Looks like the resident royals are about to put in an appearance..." Astoria turned in their direction, as did everyone else.

A man wearing a dark green dress pants, white ruffled shirt and a dark green bowler hat appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Introducing the Royal Family of Tir Nan Og: Queen Nebula..."

Nebula appeared at the top of the staircase in a square neckline, flowing-sleeved, shimmering black gown and wearing her royal crown.

"Lady Morgana and Sir Rick Klaus..."

Morgana appeared on her husband's arm wearing a cream-coloured one-sleeved floor-length gown while he wore a black tuxedo with a cream-coloured tie.

"Crown Princess Roxanne and Princess Tatiana..."

Roxy appeared, her hair in a chignon with two curls left loose, framing her face. Her shimmery, navy-blue mermaid style bustier gown was form-fitting and diamond earrings with matching necklace and bracelets accompanied it.

Her daughter wore a long-sleeved pink dress with a slight trail and her hair was in a half-up, half-down style with the top part of her hair in a bun and the rest of her hair in tight curls.

The older of the two surveyed the hall filled with guests, taking in various faces.

Stella was beaming at her and mouthing "You look fabulous!" from where she stood next to Brandon and her father King Radius.

Roxy smiled back and scanned the crowd some more.

Her best friend and college roommate Princess Krystal of Linphea waved to her from where she stood with her husband Lord Theodore of Graynor, their son Antonio and her mother Queen Panacea.

Tecna and Timmy stood next to Queen Juliana of Zenith, with two of their daughters Alanis and Kendra and Judith's own son, Raymond.

She looked around some more as she and Tatiana neared the last few stairs and saw _them._

King Sky of Eraklyon stood next to his wife, Queen Bloom, who looked lovely in a sleeveless, shimmering scarlet gown that had a slight trail behind it and a sheer black shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

She couldn't help but notice the... _stiffness_ between them.

Roxy's eyes made four with Sky's and she looked away quickly, glancing down at her feet.

She and Tatiana reached the bottom of the stairs and stood to a side with the rest of her family to await her son's entrance.

"... and Prince Malcolm." The announcer finished.

Trumpets blared again even louder than they did the first time.

When he appeared at the top of the staircase, there was more than one young woman in the hall that found themselves looking at him twice.

_"Can I just say that Malcolm looks handsome in that suit?"_ Evanne whispered to Sophia.

_"Yes, you most certainly can, because I was just about to say the same thing!" _Sophia whispered back.

"I can see it now: half the girls in here now want to be his queen..." Elodie rolled her eyes.

"Does that include you?" Nathan piped up.

Elodie glared at him.

_"I can certainly see why. I wonder who designed his suit..."_ Astoria thought.

Malcolm wore a swallow-tailed black jacket over a white shirt and black pants, a red sash around his waist and a red bowtie. His black shoes were so neatly polished that it would not have been impossible to see one's reflection in them and a gold circlet with rubies embedded around it adorned his head.

"Welcome, everyone and thank you for coming out this evening. Tonight will be... not just a celebration of me, but of this Kingdom as well. With all that out of the way, let's just enjoy the night, shall we?" He smiled.

* * *

><p>"You did well, Malcolm. Not at all like the first time I addressed a crowd at my Princess Ball. And the fact that you didn't somehow manage to trip up the stairs while you were at it didn't hurt either..." Roxy grimaced at the memory.<p>

"Well, it was only a few sentences and it's not like this was the official _"Acknowledge Malcolm As Heir"_ thing, right?" He shrugged.

_"That might very well not happen if your father has his way..." _Roxy muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow at his mother.

"Wait... I said that out loud?" Roxy's eyes widened briefly, but she quickly composed herself.

"Nothing to trouble yourself about, dear. Now, go on and find your friends. Tatiana here is clearly itching to find hers..." Roxy gestured to the little girl, who was craning her neck, trying to look around the dozens of people taller than she was.

"Okay..." Malcolm didn't quite believe her, but shook it off before going to mingle with the crowd.

Nothing was going to go wrong tonight, so he might as well go and enjoy himself. It was his birthday celebrations, after all...


	3. The Great Dragon Rescue

"Nice party, man. I'm really enjoying myself." Lucian said as he sat at a table with Nathan, Duncan and Malcolm.

"Thanks. I'll be sure to pass your kind words to the staff. They did the majority of the work, after all..." Malcolm smiled.

Just then, a loud burst of laughter came from a table some distance away, where Astoria, Elodie, Evanne, Sophia and a few other girls were sitting.

"What's so funny over there?" Duncan raised an eyebrow as he looked over.

"Don't interrupt the ladies when they're having their 'girl talk'. They _really_ don't appreciate that..." Nathan noticed that Elodie in particular, didn't seem to appreciate the 'girl talk', judging by the rather sour expression on her face...

"How do _you_ know that?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

_"I would rather not say..."_ Nathan said in a rush.

Lucian smiled a mischievous grin. "There's an interesting story behind that, really. Back home on Melody, we were working on a TV show- Harmony Vale..."

"Oh, I remember that! Was quite the hit for the three seasons you were on it and still is! I enjoyed your work on it, by the way..." Malcolm said.

"Well thanks. Anyway, we were on set and Nathan here decided to..."

"Don't you _dare_ finish that story!" Nathan growled at his brother.

"...and he decides to..." Lucian ignored him.

While Lucian was telling the story, Malcolm looked around the room.

Stella and Brandon were talking to Riven and Aisha at their table and they seemed quite entertained at _something,_ judging by their laughter.

Flora and Karel were coming back in from the gardens looking slightly dishevelled and suspiciously happy, which Stella seemed to spot and immediately waved them over to their table in a rather loud, animated fashion.

He also noticed that his sister and Kendra were going out into the gardens laughing as Alanis followed, close behind.

"...and then Sheila blasted him clear across the set and he landed in a box of costumes! That's not the best part. When he finally scrambled out, he was draped in a girl's sparkly ball gown!" Lucian snorted, causing Duncan and Malcolm to snort and laugh at the same time while Nathan scowled.

"How _is _Sheila, by the way?" Malcolm asked, once he caught his breath.

"Oh, she's fine. She's looking to take a bit of a break from acting herself and _finally_ joining me at The Golden Auditorium this year..." Lucian smiled.

"Lucian has a thing for her..." Nathan stage-whispered.

Lucian reddened. "I do not!"

"Oh yes you do! Ever since the last season we did on HV before you went to The Auditorium and I went to RF. I'm your identical twin brother. You can hide _nothing _from me." Nathan grinned.

"Sometimes, I _really_ hate you..." Lucian muttered.

"No you don't. You know you love me, bro..."

"Is this what it is like to have a brother?" Malcolm wondered.

"Don't ask me. I've only got Evanne and she's definitely a sister, remember?" Duncan shrugged.

Malcolm looked around and saw Alanis running back inside, alone. She had hitched up the skirt of her mint green dress so she could move faster.

She reached the table with Sophia and started talking to her older sister.

Judging by Alanis' body language and Sophia's apparent reaction to what she was being told as well as the other girls, Alanis was_ not_ being the bearer of good news.

"Gentlemen, I think we should go check on the ladies..." Malcolm inclined his head towards them.

"We probably should indeed..." Duncan was the first to follow Malcolm over.

"And... _and..._" Alanis was struggling to get the words out.

"Something the matter over here? Where's Tatiana and Kendra? I saw you go out into the gardens with them..." Malcolm said.

"They got carried off by a dragon!" Alanis wailed.

"They were _what?!_" Malcolm exclaimed.

"We were out in the gardens, just enjoying the flowers, plants and everything, you know? Tatiana was showing us around it. Those two were happy and laughing and I was just there to keep an eye on them. We had reached the far end of the gardens. Tatiana was just reaching for a flower to show us and... I tired firing energy blasts at it to get it to go away... But it just grabbed them and took off!" Alanis started to hyperventilate.

"Show us where it happened, Lan." Sophia said. "_Breathe._ We need to get Kendra back..."

"Okay..." Alanis led the way, her thick, magenta braid bouncing behind her.

"H... Here..."

Alanis didn't really have to say that since the area they were standing in was surrounded by crushed plants and bushes.

"Such beauty... Ruined..." Elodie said to herself quietly as she took it all in.

"I'm not magical so maybe my question will sound a bit stupid, but... Why did no one notice a dragon flying around this place, especially when it grabbed and flew off with two little girls- one of whom happened to be your sister and the other a daughter of a Winx Club member?!" Jessica asked Malcolm.

"That... is a good question, Jess..." Malcolm said, slightly distracted as he found strands of blonde hair on the ground.

"What do we do now?" Sophia asked.

"We'll go after the dragon and our sisters, of course. We have to hurry and get there before Tatiana and Kendra come to more harm!" Malcolm declared, letting the strands of hair he found fall through his fingers.

"We'll go find your parents and tell them!" Jessica and the other girls they'd been sitting with ran back inside.

"Thanks, Jess!" Malcolm called out as the brunette quickly disappeared.

The twins shrugged off their jackets and made them disappear, while Malcolm did the same with his jacket, taking the circlet off and wrapping it in the jacket before he did.

Astoria, Evanne, Elodie and Sophia quickly transformed.

Astoria's yellow top stopped just beneath her bust and hand dark gold straps and frills underneath it. Her miniskirt was dark gold with yellow shorts beneath and her dark gold stiletto boots went up above her knees. Gold gauntlets were around her wrists, a gold choker around her neck and three gold bracelets were on both her upper arms. Her hair now donned a gold headband and her hair was in a low ponytail pulled back by a gold band. The top half of her wings were triangular, the bottom half was rectangular and they had thick, gold outlining.

Evanne wore a blue mini-dress with one flowing-sleeve, with a string of pearls as the strap on her uncovered right shoulder. Pearls were around her waist, a pearl choker was around her neck and a pearl bracelet appeared on her right hand. Her hair went up into a braided afro with pearls at the end of each braid just before the afro began. Her dark blue boots with white platform heels stopped just below the knees and her wings were translucent, light blue and shaped like fins.

Elodie's hair became wavy and magenta pearl clips appeared on each side of her hair. The sleeves of her short-sleeved blouse were magenta with black trim and the chest line of the light pink top was black as well as three stripes on the front of her blouse which showed off her stomach. Her magenta mini-skirt had two layers of light pink frills around the hem and a thin, black sash was tied into a bow on the left side of her waist. Pink elbow-length gloves with black bands around the elbow formed, a black choker with a single pearl in the centre was around her neck and black, mid-calf, high-heeled boots were around her feet. Her wings were a translucent green and looked like simple leaves.

Sophia wore a red top that stopped a few inches below her bust with a grey stripe on top, connected to a strip of grey fabric that went up and around her neck. A thicker strip of red fabric went from her top to a silver belt with a circular buckle that went through black mini-shorts. Both her knee-high boots were flat-heeled, though the left boot was black and the right boot was red. Black wrist-length gloves formed around her hands and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail by a red and black band. Black-framed goggles appeared around her head and black and light blue butterfly wings sprouted from her back.

"Now what's your plan?" Alanis asked, not yet able to transform.

"Alanis, which direction did the dragon go in?" Malcolm asked back.

"That way..." Alanis pointed west.

"That direction is the way that the volcanic region is. Dragon's Hearth..." Malcolm whispered.

"Oh great! Now there's the double risk of them either being eaten or dropped into boiling lava!" Sophia exclaimed.

"We need an airship if we want to get there quick enough since you girls won't be able to fly that far, I can barely levitate and those other three can't fly at all..." Malcolm thumbed Duncan and the twins.

"If you can get that airship, I'll be able to fly it." Duncan suggested.

"Good. Astoria, you've only been there once. Do you know the Hangar well enough to teleport us there?" Malcolm turned to the Solarian Princess.

"Consider it done." Astoria activated the Sceptre.

"Alanis, go on back inside. We'll come back with them. Promise." Sophia hugged her sister and then watched as she ran off.

"Let's get going then!" Astoria swiped the Sceptre and they all disappeared.

* * *

><p>Kendra came to and looked around.<p>

And screamed when she realized where she was.

In the grasp of a dragon, several feet in the air.

Even if she did manage to get free of the dragon's grasps, she would still plummet to her death...

She looked across at the dragon's other front paw and saw her friend still unconscious.

"Don't worry, Tati. We'll get out of this... Somehow..." She said softly. "Our families will come after us..."

* * *

><p>"I freaking <em>love<em> this ship!" Duncan exclaimed as he sat at the controls.

"Yeah. Just remember _why_ you're flying it, brother dear..." Evanne reminded him from her seat somewhere in the back of the ship.

"Uh-huh... Duncan, what's that?" Sophia pointed to something on the radar.

"What's what?" Malcolm got up from his seat to take a look.

"I don't know... Hold on, it looks like it may be a dragon!" Duncan exclaimed.

"But is it _our_ dragon?" Nathan asked, crowding around the radar as well.

"I don't know about _that_ dragon, but I certainly know about this one!" Elodie pointed out the window.

"Oh my Dragon! It's a dragon! Dragon incoming!" Astoria freaked out.

"Activate the protective shield, quick!" Nathan's eyes widened.

Duncan pressed a blue button and the shield engulfed the ship.

"WOAH!"

Everyone was thrown off their feet or out of their seats when the dragon made impact with the ship's shield.

The ship spun around and around in the air throwing them from the floor to the ceiling and from side to side.

"My wings are fine..." Elodie groaned, rubbing them and flapping them slightly to test them.

"Your driving... flying... SUCKS!" Nathan complained from his spot on the floor, groaning.

"We got hit by a damned dragon! What the hell do you expect?!" Duncan shouted.

"Quit your squabbling and get this damned ship back on track! We've got two little girls out there to save!" Sophia screamed.

"Right. Sorry..." Duncan crawled back over to the controls and fought to bring it back to a level height.

"It's so dark out there... How are we going to see to find them?" Malcolm started to fret.

"_Hello?_ I'm right here. I draw my powers from a light source, remember?" Astoria pointed out.

"Yeah. The sun, not the moon..." Evanne sounded confused.

_"Thank goodness for that..."_ Elodie muttered darkly.

"Perhaps so, but I can still cast some sun spells at night and though I can't do very many, Grandmother Luna has taught me a few Lunar spells. I am _so_ glad that she did..." Astoria explained.

"Good. We're almost to the border of Dragon's Heath. The ship will have to be parked somewhere on the flatlands that surround it. We can track the girls from there." Malcolm said as he took in the night landscape below.

"I hear you. This look like a good spot up ahead to land?" Duncan asked.

Malcolm walked over and looked around a bit.

"Sure. Go ahead. Activate the protective shield as we land and leave it on. We want a nice, whole ship to fly back in, after all..." He instructed.

"What about weapons? We can't go down into this Dragon's Hearth place unarmed..." Nathan pointed out.

"FOUND SOME!" Evanne rummaged in a large, metal box near the back of the ship and pulled out a few.

"Here, dude. You should use an energy gun." Nathan took one from her and handed it to Lucian while taking one for himself.

"How do I use this thing?" Lucian turned it over in his hands.

"Here. Let me show you..." Nathan took it back.

"Evanne, any scimitars in there?" Duncan called back.

Evanne hovered above the box and rummaged further.

"Yep!" She called.

"Save it for me!" Duncan instructed.

"Malcolm, you're going to need a weapon too..." Evanne pointed out.

"I know... Let's see... Ah! Butterfly swords..." Malcolm drew a pair out and found a utility belt to tuck them into.

"Since when do you know how to use those things?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"One does not simply be related to Nebula, the Major Fairy of War and Peace without her trying to teach you something about weaponry and war..."

"Ah... Something I did not consider..."

"Coming in for a landing, ladies and gentlemen!" Duncan warned.

Everyone went to take their seats for landing.

It was a rather turbulent landing, but everyone survived it.

Though some were a little worse for wear...

"Next time, _I'll _fly the ship..." Nathan said, looking distinctly green as they disembarked.

"You most certainly will not. Now, what's the plan, Malcolm?" Duncan turned to him.

"Elodie," Malcolm turned to the blue and black-haired fairy. "can you sniff them out or sense a disturbance in nature around here that might lead us towards the girls?"

Elodie sniffed the air. "I can't possibly smell them over the scent of all this sulphur. I can barely smell myself! As for sensing a nature disturbance... I'm not nearly as good at it as my mother is... I'll ask the... _few_ plants here..."

Elodie knelt down and touched the ground.

She glowed a light green and her wings flapped slightly as she concentrated.

Everyone was completely silent as she worked.

"There is very little plant life that can grow in this area so their voice was weak, but... I got an answer. They tell me that a dragon flew over this very spot with two young fairies in that direction." Elodie pointed to her right.

"Let's get moving then!" Astoria activated her Sceptre and lit the way.

* * *

><p>"Kendra, I'm scared... I wish my mom were here..." Tatiana whimpered as she and Kendra ran into a small cave that could barely hold them, barely evading a gust of flame from the dragon's mouth.<p>

"Me too. I want my mom too... I don't want to be dragon food!" Kendra cried as the two girls held one another close.

The dragon's eye appeared at the mouth of the cave, looking directly in at them

The girls screamed and backed away further into the cave.

"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, _I don't wanna die..._" Tatiana chanted.

The girls screamed again when fire suddenly filled the cave, setting it on fire and trapping them further inside.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Kendra began to cry.

Just as suddenly as the flames filled the cave, so too did water, putting the flames out nearly instantly.

"Huh?" The other two girls' faces went from terrified to confused.

Three figures appeared outside the cave. Two winged females and a non-winged male, though they couldn't see their heads.

"Malcolm! You came to save us!" Tatiana cheered.

"And I brought along a few friends to help..." Evanne and Elodie's heads appeared alongside his.

"Come on! The dragon's being distracted!" Evanne beckoned and the two girls scrambled out.

In the sky above them, Astoria channelled silver energy through her staff that bound the dragon while Sophia did the same with her digital energy.

Nathan, Lucian and Duncan were fighting off wild, mountain lion-esque creatures around them.

"We've got the girls! Let's get out of here!" Evanne exclaimed.

She and Elodie converged to form a barrier that deflected every attack by the creatures.

Astoria and Sophia saw this and released their hold on the dragon, causing it to plummet into the ravine below.

Sophia flew as fast as she could towards them and grabbed Kendra, flying off with her and Astoria did the same for Tatiana.

"Morphix Discs!"

Evanne's spell made four discs of the versatile pink liquid appear and each male stood on one as they lifted off.

Just as Malcolm was to the other side of the ravine, the dragon flew back up suddenly, knocking him off his disc and sending him falling several feet below onto a small cliff.

Tatiana screamed. "Malcolm, no! My brother! Somebody save _him _now!"

* * *

><p>Malcolm was disoriented from the fall. Groaning, he got to his feet slowly and looked around.<p>

And started to panic when he realized where he was.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope..." He drew the butterfly swords and deflected a gust of flame narrowly.

"Some birthday party evening this turned out to be!" He exclaimed.

The dragon blasted one of his swords out of his hand.

He swore.

"Hang on, Malcolm!" Elodie flew down and grabbed him around the arms.

The dragon flew at them, nearly making Elodie lose her grip.

She was strong enough to carry him, but carrying him while trying to dodge or deflect the best attack attempts of a dragon was another matter entirely.

"Morphix Rope!"

Evanne formed a lasso around Elodie's waist and tried pulling her up, but wasn't strong enough so Sophia pulled her, Astoria pulled Sophia and Duncan pulled Astoria.

The dragon flew low over them, nearly making them all lose their grip.

Nathan and Lucian fired off blasts at it while Tatiana and Kendra ducked behind them.

The dragon sent a gust of flame at the Morphix rope, causing it to dissolve.

_"Crap!"_ Evanne's eyes widened.

Elodie plummeted, suddenly losing the support she had.

The dragon was about to send more fire at them when a blur of wings and Windriders descended into the ravine.

_"Stay away from our children!"_ Flora and Roxy cried out, firing off a giant convergence energy blast at the dragon.

It became even more infuriated and breathed a bigger gust of fire.

Sky flew in front of the gust on his motorcycle and deflected the majority of the fire.

"Roxy, Flora! GO!" He shouted.

Roxy grabbed Malcolm and Flora grabbed Elodie and quickly flew out of the ravine.

Elodie passed out and her fairy form faded away as her mother carried her.

"Malcolm, can you run?" His mother asked once they reached level land.

"Yeah, I think so..." Malcolm shook his head to clear it.

"Good. Run as fast as you can. I'll get your sister." Roxy grabbed the now catatonic Tatiana and flew off.

Malcolm focused for a brief moment, glowing silver. _"Speed of a cheetah..."_

The glow subsided and he glanced back at the ravine.

Bloom, Stella, Musa and Aisha were there with Sky, Brandon, Helia, Riven and Karel, holding off the dragon.

His mother, Flora and Tecna were already off with their respective daughters and the others were flying, running or riding off in the distance.

He took off behind them, catching up quickly thanks to his super speed.

* * *

><p>"I know you all are tired, but I need to know <em>exactly<em> what happened from your point of view. Perhaps then I can figure out _how_ it happened in the first place..."

Later that night, after most of the guests had gone home or slept in their temporary rooms in the palace, Nebula sat at the head of a table in what looked like a board room, talking to most of the older Winx children and their parents.

"Your Majesty, for us it started when Alanis came and told me about it. Astoria, Elodie and Evanne were at the table with me and I guess the guys saw us freaking out, so they came to see what was the matter..." Sophia started, sitting next to Tecna.

"That's right. Malcolm noticed and pointed it out to us, so we decided to find out what was going on." Lucian said, sitting with his brother and their parents, Musa and Helia.

Elodie took a sip of the herbal tea that her mother had brewed her before answering from her seat between Flora and Karel, who was rubbing his daughter's shoulder reassuringly.

"So Alanis took us out to the garden and told us the full story, showed us exactly where they were grabbed. You could tell. Broken shrubbery, scorch marks... _strands of ginger and blonde hair..._" Elodie shuddered at the thought.

"We came up with an initial plan. While we sent those who didn't have magic or couldn't use it much to go find our parents and so on, we decided to go after them. It's not like we could just leave Kendra and Tatiana out there. Not when the risk increased to them with every passing moment..." Duncan said, while Evanne nodded in agreement, Riven next to her and Aisha next to Duncan.

"And a good thing too. We _barely_ saved them from being roasted alive..." Evanne added.

"Malcolm came up with the idea to..." Astoria yawned. "...to get an airship from the Royal Hangar and fly it out to Dragon's Hearth. I teleported us there with my Sceptre and we took one over. When we were on board, he told us everything he knew about the region and Evanne managed to find some weapons for the guys to use. We got there in good time with... _relatively few obstacles..._" Astoria shuddered at the memory of the dragon colliding with the ship. Stella and Brandon put a hand on either of their daughter's shoulders.

"Elodie did a tracker spell, asking the few plants she had to work with about Tatiana and Kendra. It worked and we found them. We divided up to get the girls and hold off the dragon as well as some mountain lion-ish things we encountered. Just as we were almost home free, everything went completely south..." Malcolm shuddered at how close he and Elodie had come to being dragon food.

"At which point, our parents show up and helped us finish the job..." Elodie finished her tea.

"Well for having such a short time to act, you actually came up with a decent strategy and I'm proud of you, Malcolm. You and everyone else who helped." Nebula turned to her great-nephew.

"Thank you, but I still messed up near the end. I should have kept an eye out for the dragon or restrained it somehow until we were all safely in the ship or something..." Malcolm hung his head.

"Stop beating yourself up! You did well. Without formal warrior training, you led a relatively successful rescue mission! Tatiana and Kendra are here and alive because of that!" Sky said from his seat next to Bloom.

Roxy looked across the table at the Eraklyonese king, silent for a few moments before speaking.

"Sky is right, Malcolm. We might have come after you but judging by what you've all told us about what happened before we got there, Tatiana and Kendra would be _dead_ if you hadn't gone ahead!" Roxy exclaimed.

"Roxy is correct. Thank you. _Thank all of you. _I would rather not have had last evening marred by the deaths of our girls..." Tecna said, with Sophia half asleep on her shoulder.

Nebula nodded. "Indeed. Now, I know we all need our rest and you younger people have to go back to school... _tomorrow, _so you'd probably need today to sleep all you can. Go ahead and go on back to your rooms. I know all I need to know from you for now." Nebula motioned for them all to leave.

* * *

><p>"Tatiana is all settled in and asleep..." Morgana and Klaus appeared in the doorway of the living room, where Malcolm was draped lazily across an armchair and Roxy was reading a book.<p>

"Thanks, mom, dad..." Roxy hugged them. Even though she was an adult with one (young) adult child herself, she still appreciated her parents' hugs.

"No problem, Roxy. She'll bounce back. Tatiana has spunk. This incident might have spooked her, but she'll be back to normal soon..." Morgana smiled.

"You were brave out there, Malcolm. Don't think about what you did wrong, but what you did right. Remember that you saved your sister's and her friend's lives just by being there with the others..." Klaus said.

"You're right, Grandpa..." Malcolm got his own hug.

"We will see you soon. Tatiana's the only one of us who's gotten to sleep so far even with what she just went through..." Morgana opened a portal back to Gardenia and she and her husband waved to Roxy and Malcolm as they disappeared.

"I think it's time for us to follow their lead..." Roxy yawned.

"I agree with you there, Mother..." Malcolm stretched and followed his mother out the room.

"Well, Malcolm, I know that it was an... _eventful _evening for you..." Roxy said as she walked with him up the stairs.

"...it was even more eventful for Tatiana and Kendra..." Malcolm yawned.

"Indeed..."

They reached the top of the stairs.

"Wait, Malcolm." Roxy put an hand on her son's shoulder as he turned to go into his room.

"This... is for you." Roxy snapped her fingers and a large, purple envelope appeared in her hand.

Malcolm took it and looked at it.

"Thanks... I guess..." He said, putting it under his arm.

"_He_ asked me to give that to you... Try not to think of us too badly once you're through with it..." Roxy smiled at Malcolm weakly as she turned to head to her own room, without another word to him.

_"Why would I..."_ He thought as he went into his room.

He was tired, but something told him to stay up to examine the contents of the envelope he held.

Pulling his sheets up around himself, he propped up his pillows and reached for the bedside lamp, turning it on.

He inspected the envelope closer.

The back of it was sealed with red wax and imprinted with an impression that he guessed was made by a signet ring.

_"This impression... It's the crest of the royal family of Eraklyon. But... why would..." _

As he moved his fingers across the seal lightly, it glowed slightly and opened.

"Charmed specifically that it would only open for me..." He raised an eyebrow as he lifted out the single sheet of cream-coloured paper.

The texture was slightly ribbed, almost like the fancy sort of paper that people would print invitations to high-society galas on and was even slightly warm as if it had just emerged from a printer, though the text on it was written by hand in dark blue ink.

The writing was refined; well practiced, as though the person who wrote it had been trained in calligraphy as he himself was- at the insistence of his grandmother.

His own natural handwriting didn't look _nearly_ this neat though...

He settled in to read.

_" Dear Malcolm,_

_You've only recently turned eighteen, which I understand is the age of adulthood in your world, though justifiably, you had every single right to know what I am about to reveal to you in this letter long before now._

_Your mother was prepared to tell you all this, but me... I was afraid. Afraid of the consequences of my actions- even though they resulted in two wonderful, wonderful people being brought into existence. Try not to blame your mother too much. We share equal blame for this, though I refused to believe that for years and did not want to accept my half._

_You have already met me. Several times in fact. Just not in the role I should have. I did the 'fathering thing' from behind the scenes. Every year on your birthday, I would send you and your sister gifts. Roxy sent me a picture of you when you turned four. I had sent you a stuffed blue dinosaur with your initials on the bottom that was about three feet tall and nearly dwarfed you at the time, and a book about dragons, the closest magical equivalent. She told me that blue was your favourite colour and that you had an obsession with dinosaurs at the time. You seemed to love it, judging by that picture of you hugging it so tightly that you threatened to squeeze the stuffing out of it..._

_However, mere material gifts are not important. You are my son and I should have been a better man and a better father to you and Tatiana. I should have ignored the guaranteed gossip and detractors that I feared and done the right thing._

_Which is why I want to do this. I want to officially acknowledge you and your sister as heirs to the throne of Eraklyon. If you and Tatiana want it, then your mother and I can work out the finer details of who inherits which throne._

_I know that this may seem sudden and that several negative emotions must be going through your mind towards your mother and I- especially me- as you read this._

_I know that there is much more to be said than what can fit in a mere letter. I won't try to fit it all here. I know that I can't do that. I want to meet you in person. As your father. Not just as the King of Eraklyon, but as a man who is trying to make things right for his children._

_Please, give me a chance to do this. Even though you or your sister may not want to become the next King- or Queen- of Eraklyon, at least let me talk to you in the role you never knew me as. Your father. You do not have to rush. Take the time to think things over and contact me in your own time at my personal communication channels. It doesn't matter which. Roxy will know how to, of course. Ask her to help you._

_I ask you again, please let me talk to you as the father that I should have been. I do not expect you to forgive me, but you at least deserve to know everything._

_Happy Belated Birthday (though that might not be much so after reading this),_

_Your Father,_

_Sky. "_

Malcolm's eyes widened and his hands shook as he finished reading the letter.

Slowly resting the letter down on the bedside table, he rose out of bed, carefully detangling himself from the sheets.

Heading straight for his walk-in closet, he felt around for the light switch.

As light flooded the closet, he opened a hidden door at the very back by holding his hand up to a scanner seemingly randomly placed at that part of the wall. The wall opened up to reveal the small, secret room where he stored his most prized possessions.

In that farthest corner sat a rather large, stuffed blue dinosaur.

"All this time... my favourite childhood toy came from him... And I never knew..." He lifted it up and ran his hands on the bottom, feeling the embroidery of his initials: M.A.Z.K. Malcolm Alan Zachary Klaus.

"Oh my god..." He sunk to the floor, holding the dinosaur close.

"George... you came to me from Sky... my father is Sky... why did I not see... Sky is... Oh my god... He's married to Bloom and he still was when I would have been born. Tatiana too... _Hooooooooooooooly_ crap, my mother, a Crown Princess, had an affair with a married king and that produced me and my sister... Oh my god..." His eyes widened and he felt himself beginning to panic at the mere thought.

He shook even more violently as the meaning sunk in.

"Okay, Malcolm. Breathe. Calm down. You can do this..." He stood up and put George away, locking the secret room and leaving the closet.

He got into bed and read the letter again several times, muttering to himself as he did.

After a while, he finally put the letter away and laid back down, though the sleepiness he had felt earlier was now long gone.

"Well..." Malcolm thought as he stared up at the ceiling. "It doesn't look like I'll be getting any sleep tonight... This morning rather..."

"I can't stay in this bed. I might as well get up and go make myself some hot chocolate..." He swung out of bed and walked slowly down the stairs.

"Sky is my father... Mine and Tatiana's father..." He stirred his large mug of hot chocolate that practically overflowed with marshmallows without really paying attention to it.

"I still can't believe this. What do I do now?!" He wondered. "I can't look at mom and Sky... my father... the same way again... I just can't..."


	4. Cold Shoulder

**_Check the poll on my profile people, and go vote if you haven't already!_**

**_Also, feel free to go check out my Miele-centric story Small Doesn't Mean Weak! That little girl needs more love!_**

* * *

><p>"What's the matter with you, dude?" Lucian asked as he, his brother, Duncan and Malcolm sat in a beach park in Tir Nan Og later that morning.<p>

Malcolm looked tired, his glasses were askew and his usually neat, dark brown hair hung over in his face.

"Nothing guys. I'm just tired. I didn't sleep much last night... this morning..." He yawned.

"Neither did I and I don't look _nearly_ as terrible as you do..." Nathan said.

"Thanks for the compliment..." Malcolm grumbled.

"Dude, perk up man! You're out here in this beautiful place that's all yours! And we've still got like an hour or two before all us Magix people have to head back and start to get ready to go back to school..." Lucian leaned against a tree and sighed in contentment.

"You had nightmares or something?" Duncan wondered.

"More like I literally never went to sleep. Went back to L. A. with mom, looked in on Tatiana before my grandparents left..." Malcolm paused. "_...went to bed_, but didn't sleep. I just couldn't. Ended up staying up the whole night, snacking and reading. I ended up leaving an e-message for mom telling her where I'd be before I came back here early this morning before she or Tatiana woke up..."

"Tatiana and Kendra are safe. Perhaps somewhat traumatised by the Dragon Incident, but safe... Stop worrying and just chill, man!" Duncan exclaimed.

_"If only it were just __**that **__to fret about..."_ Malcolm thought.

"EVANNE, PUT ME DOWN, NOW!" Astoria's voice shrieked loudly from somewhere out of their line of sight, drawing the guys' attention towards the beach.

"Let's go see what the girls are up to..." Lucian led the charge down the beach.

When they got there, it was to find that Evanne was manipulating the water from the sea into the shape of two giant hands and both had Astoria in their grasp, not unlike the way a baseball player would hold his bat.

"Are you _sure_ you want me to put you down?" Everyone heard the mischievous tone in her voice.

"EVANNE!" Astoria shrieked.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out!" Evanne giggled.

"EVANNE, I SWEAR TO THE GREAT DRAGON IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN, I WILL- AAH!' Astoria screamed as Evanne dropped her into the water.

Everyone burst out laughing except for Astoria obviously, Duncan (who didn't know whether to feel amused or annoyed at his sister's behaviour), Malcolm and Elodie, who both simply smiled.

Astoria sputtered and coughed as she got out of the water, looking like a bad-tempered cat and sounding like one as she spoke her next sentence.

"Evanne, I'm going to _kill_ you." She hissed, flicking her matted hair out of her face.

"Not unless you want to cause a war between Solaria and Andros you won't!" Sophia piped up cheerfully.

"Oh, _shut up,_ Sophia..." Astoria used some of her sun magic to dry herself. "I'm just glad Calliope isn't here. She'd enjoy this far more than any of you would. She and that friend of hers, Penelope, are both horrible!"

Malcolm glanced at Elodie, who was nearest to him, for an explanation.

"Well, you already know that Calliope and Astoria are in the same year, except that Calliope is at Cloud Tower. They both seem to have hated each other's guts from the moment they met, the fact that Calliope is Queen Diaspro's daughter not included. I don't even understand it myself sometimes. No clue how it started." Elodie shrugged. "Penelope is a year below Calliope and hangs with her all the time. Plus this year, they took Beatrice under their wing too..."

"Mirta's daughter?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

"The very same. Bea's okay, but sometimes she can seem like the cheese fell off her crackers a long time ago..." Elodie explained.

"In other words, Beatrice is completely nuts."

"Precisely."

"Hey, you two! Come back here to Tir Nan Og and come join the fun!" Nathan called out to them.

"Huh? What's this you're doing?" Elodie motioned to the giant pile of sand that the twins had built up between them.

"Sandcastle. A giant one." Lucian answered her.

"Looks more like a giant pile of sand to me..." Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

"Not when we're done with it!" Sophia exclaimed, conjuring up a few buckets and a metre rule.

"Cool! I haven't built one of those in ages! This will be fun!" Evanne took a seat next to Sophia and conjured some shovels- big and small.

"What's the design going to be like? Are we putting in any windows, fancy stairs, balconies?" Astoria wandered over.

"It's just a sandcastle, Astoria..." Duncan looked at his girlfriend oddly.

"So?"

Duncan sighed.

"Well, if we're going big, we'd better get to work on this thing!" Malcolm took a bucket and shovel and began working, temporarily forgetting about his troubles as he worked with his friends.

* * *

><p>"Hey, man. You okay? You look like someone really pissed you off... A Hispanic young man asked Malcolm as they walked up the path to an average-looking house in an average-looking, middle-class neighbourhood.<p>

"Actually, I am _not_ okay. Far from it, Colin. I'd rather not talk about it." Malcolm muttered.

"Aye. It is not about Lydia still, is it? I know your breakup with her- or rather her breakup with you- was rather abrupt..."

"It's not about Lydia, though I don't want to talk about her either. _Change the subject._" Malcolm growled.

Colin blinked.

"Okay then... Dad managed to get some DVD's of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra from back when he was our age. Want to watch them?"

"How can I say no to that? They were awesome then, they're still awesome now!" Malcolm exclaimed.

"Good. I'll go set up." Colin locked the front door behind them.

"Want some pizza? I'll pay, though you'd better handle the actual transaction..." Malcolm offered.

"Sure, why not? And I totally understand. Wouldn't want the paparazzi to be mobbing this neighbourhood too..." Colin called back.

Sometime later, both teenagers had the DVDs playing and a veritable array of junk foods- giant, greasy double cheese, double pepperoni pizza included- surrounding them as they hung out.

"Hey, Colin. How come you never came to my birthday party? I missed you there!" Malcolm asked between mouthfuls of buffalo wings.

"Wish I could have gone. Heard there was a lot of excitement there..." Colin spoke through his mouthful of food. "Anyway, dad had a family emergency to deal with in Sosua and couldn't find a babysitter he trusted in time to go. You know how Diego is and his regular babysitter Alina was out of town..."

"Ah..." Malcolm nodded in understanding. "Anyway, the excitement that I was part of, you'd want no part in. I know you think dragons are cool, but dragons are also deadly." He reminded his friend.

"True and I don't think I'd fit in with all those rich, famous, magical people anyway. I'm just your average, non-magical Dominican-American guy." Colin shrugged.

"And that's why you're my friend. You're normal, you're not like a lot of the rich snots at school and you don't look at me like an idolized celebrity when I walk around in public..."

"But you _are _an idolized celebrity. American-born prince, son of the future Queen of Tir-Nan-Og..." Colin pointed out.

_"And son of the current King of Eraklyon, but no one is about to find that out anytime soon..." _Malcolm thought darkly.

"None of which I accomplished on my own. That's all my... _parents'_ doing..." He said aloud.

Colin nodded, knowing better than to ask about his father. He might be completely unaware about what Malcolm recently found out, but he still knew that area was still a touchy subject.

"Anyway, what are you doing after you leave Snob Central High?" Colin asked.

"They're not_ all_ bad at Cedargrove Academy, Colin. Still... I've always had a love for languages, politics and international policy so if I keep up my grades, my "Likely Letter" from Columbia University will turn into a definite yes and I'm _really_ inclined to go there above all the other schools I applied to..." Malcolm said.

"Ambitious dude, aren't you? I'd be lucky to get into any of the schools I applied to and I'm not even applying to any Ivy Leaguers..." Colin spoke in a sort of awe.

"Where'd you apply?" Malcolm asked.

"UCLA, NYU, USF, Texas A & M, and UNLV." Colin listed off.

"All pretty good schools too." Malcolm nodded.

"All a pretty penny too. I'd need some pretty generous scholarships- even if they aren't full- to be able to go at all. I just hope my grades and extracurricular activities are enough..." Colin worried.

"Enough about school. The episode with Sozin's Comet is about to come on." Malcolm redirected his friend's attention to the food and television.

* * *

><p>"It's been three weeks and Malcolm hasn't spoken a single word to me. <em>He hates me!<em>" Roxy nearly cried at the thought as she spoke to Sky, reclining in a sofa which was in a small room detached from the rest of the house... _mansion..._ on the other side of the large, backyard pool, its large, glass sliding doors and curtains pulled fully back on either side.

"He'd hate me too, Roxy. Possibly even worse. Why didn't we stop after the first time?" Sky wondered and Roxy looked at his projection sadly as her phone sat on the small glass table in front of her.

"Wouldn't have helped much, since I got pregnant with him the first time we went at it... And even though you made the first move, I still encouraged you, actively went after you, even. We got _far_ too comfortable with each other and _far_ too confident that no one would find us out..." Roxy noted.

"True... And even two pregnancies later and the public's fascination with them and the results... No one knows still... except Bloom... and Malcolm and that's only because we told them. Even then, they _still_ don't know everything..." Sky said.

"If Malcolm's giving me the cold shoulder like this... What will Tatiana be like? Dragon, she hasn't even had her tenth birthday yet! How will she handle it? She hasn't even outgrown Barbie dolls yet and I'm supposed to tell her that the daddy she never knew... she actually knew him all along? That mommy slept with daddy and produced her and big brother even though daddy was in love with and married to someone else? Mommy's _friend_ at that? How do I do that?" Roxy fretted.

"I don't know, but she really does deserve to know too..." Sky sighed.

"Why does it all have to be so difficult? I know that Malcolm would be upset but ignoring me completely... We'd be in the same room and he won't look at me or talk to me... Nothing! His eyes harden when he sees me. He looks absolutely _disgusted_ at me; ashamed! How do you handle your son being completely disgusted at you?"

"I don't know. I don't have an answer for this one. I really don't. For everything we all went through as younger people... Even those bad guys... villains... all forming a conglomerate would be easier to deal with than this..."

"Amen to that..." Roxy perked up as she heard movement inside the house with her animal senses that she had honed over the years. She relaxed when the movements sounded familiar, but only slightly.

"Ah... Malcolm is home. I just heard him. We should probably end this call..." Roxy said.

"Agreed. I'll talk to you another time." Sky nodded as Roxy pressed the off button on the phone.

Minutes later, Malcolm walked around the back of the house, dressed only in swimming trunks and sandals, with a towel slung over his shoulder.

He didn't even acknowledge his mother's presence as he sat in one of the pool chairs to remove his sandals, got up, put his towel over the side of the chair, put his glasses inside their case and dove into the deep end of the pool.

Roxy's eyes followed him as he took a few laps around the pool and stopped at the far side, allowing himself to relax and float idly.

She sighed as she turned on the television and tried distracting herself with one of the reality shows on- somehow even more outlandish/outrageous than the ones she'd seen growing up.

_"This is hard. My own flesh and blood hating me like this. And what of my parents and aunt when I eventually have to tell them about this if Malcolm is actually interested in what Sky proposed?"_ Roxy's mind wandered off as two young women on the screen went into a brawl, pulling hair, screaming and scratching at each other with long nails...

She pictured her and Bloom in a fight like that, only that they were both transformed and there were magic spells flying everywhere added to the mix...

She shuddered at the thought.

All the years that she had known Bloom and what she heard from others... The Fairy of the Dragon Flame was normally quite friendly or at the very least civil to those she interacted with on a daily basis, but... She also had several moods- _including_ extreme rage and impulsiveness. While it was true that Bloom had mellowed out since her youth, Roxy was not quite ready to tempt fate and re-ignite _that_ flame...

She sighed and turned off the television, reaching for a wine glass in a small cupboard in one corner of the room as she got up.

Using magic to open the mini-fridge in another corner of the room and summoning a bottle of red wine from it, she carried both glass and wine bottle out into the pleasantly warm California sunshine.

Lounging in another pool chair, she filled her glass and rested the bottle on the small table next to her.

Taking a sip of the wine, she watched her son as he swam around in various motions and swimming types, never once sparing a glance in her direction.

Roxy glanced at her watch.

_"Still another hour or so before I have to go and get Tatiana from her ballet class. She loves it there. I wonder how much she'll love me though, once she finds out about her father..."_ Roxy finished off her glass and poured herself another full one.

"Okay, that's enough. I don't need to be drunk right now..." She got up and put away the now half-empty wine bottle and the glass after she'd cleaned it with a simple spell, locking up the poolside room when she was done.

When she turned, she saw Malcolm getting out of the pool and heading towards her.

She gulped.

"I... why?" Malcolm looked at his mother coldly as he spoke, once he got close enough to her.

"I... I guess I don't really know, Malcolm..." Roxy looked up at her son, who was a full head taller than she was.

"I can't hold it in anymore. I can't ignore it any longer. No matter how much I'd like to..." The dark-haired prince's tone remained cool as he spoke.

"_Why?_ Why would you do something like that, Mother? Do you know what it feels like for me to learn this after all these years? I grew up, wondering about my father all the time. Who he was, what he was like... And all this time, the answer was right in front of me..."

"Malcolm, I..." Roxy reached out to him, but Malcolm stepped away, flinching as he did.

"And he was..._ is_ married. To someone else. Someone who is supposed to be a good friend of yours. What kind of person do you have to be to _do_ something like that to your _friend?!_" He exclaimed.

"I... what can I say? I really regret it, but I can't turn back time and even if I could, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have had you... _we _wouldn't have had you and Tatiana otherwise..." Roxy said softly.

"You taught me to do my best in life. Be honest. Value your friendships. How can I take all of that seriously _when you didn't?_"

"I'm... _we're _sorry for lying to you Malcolm. You and Tatiana both. I know we can never take away the hurt that you must feel, but..." Roxy stopped when Malcolm interrupted her.

"No. Just... _No._ I don't want to hear it, Mother. I don't think I can talk to you right now and give you the respect you deserve as my mother. I might say something I shouldn't... I need to go think. I'll get Tatiana from her ballet lesson and we can go to the zoo again. She loves it there..." Malcolm turned to leave.

"_Just..._ Malcolm, don't tell Tatiana yet. I don't know if..." Roxy trailed off.

"I know better than to tell Tatiana at this point, _Mother..._" Malcolm spat, making Roxy wince at his tone.

"...but you'll have to tell her soon. She's only nine, but she's not stupid. She's a smart kid. She'll eventually pick up on the fact that something is wrong here now..."

"_Malcolm..._ do you... do you hate me?" Roxy asked hesitantly.

Malcolm remained silent for a few moments and for a little while, Roxy thought he wasn't going to answer her.

"I... _No._ No I don't, Mother. I don't hate you. I feel betrayed... even a bit... _disgusted _by you and my so-called father, but no. I don't hate you... _I..._ I don't think I can."

He headed towards the house and stepped in through the back door without another word to his mother after gathering up the things he had brought with him outside.

Roxy sunk into the grass around the pool and let the tears run down her face and the sobs shake her body.

Malcolm had every single right to feel what he did towards her, but why did it hurt so much to actually hear those words come from him?

She waited until she heard his car start up and drive away from the house before she tried composing herself to return indoors.

When she was inside, she went into the living room and reached for the large framed photo of herself, Malcolm and Tatiana taken at Disneyland a few years before, calling it down from its place on the shelf with magic and letting it float into her outstretched hand.

"The good days, before everything... Everything had to come out... I knew you would be unhappy if you were to find out the truth, despite wanting to know but... you really did deserve to know... I'm so sorry... If I could make this better, I would. But I can't..." Roxy snapped her finger and the picture returned to its place.

"I'm going back out there and finishing my wine. I really need it. But not before a nice, long relaxation session in the Jacuzzi tub upstairs..." She sighed, making her way slowly up the stairs.

* * *

><p>"Hey big bro!" Tatiana nearly bowled Malcolm over with her enthusiasm as she ran to hug him.<p>

"Hey Tatiana! How was your class?" Malcolm tried to ignore the stares of Tatiana's fellow dancers and even the parents and staff of the dance school (mostly female).

"It was great! We're learning quite a lot, not just about how to perform the dance steps themselves, but about the history of ballet and famous ballet performances and dancers!" Tatiana looked around. "Wait. Malcolm, where's Mom? She was the one that was supposed to come get me today!"

"She's at home. I volunteered to come get you. We can go to the zoo afterwards." Malcolm gestured for her to go out the door, which he held open for her.

As they walked to his car, Tatiana talked.

"It's not like I don't like going to the zoo or anything, but what's the matter with you and Mom lately? Did you guys have a falling out?" She asked.

"_Something like that." _ Malcolm muttered. "Get in the car, Tatiana..."

"Something's up. I can tell. What is it, big bro? I'm nine. _Not stupid... _This was no mere _falling out..._" Tatiana narrowed her eyes at her brother as he packed her things into the trunk.

_"This girl is too smart for her own good sometimes..."_ Malcolm thought.

"It's not my place to tell you that. And you're going to find out eventually, I'm sure. Now do you want to go to the zoo or not?" Malcolm asked testily.

"Yeah, I do! Of course! Why would I ever say no to the zoo?" Tatiana looked at him with an incredulous expression that probably would have made him laugh if he were in a better mood.

"Then it's to the zoo we go." Malcolm started up the car and they were soon off.


	5. Potential

_"Decisions, decisions, decisions... What do I do?" _Malcolm wondered as he sat by himself in his school's- Cedargrove Academy's- cafeteria at lunch.

His left hand was feeding himself his lunch (shrimp alfredo, a smile salad and cherry yoghurt) while his right hand leafed through a book on the history and customs of Eraklyon.

_"I can't just jump on the task of being King of Eraklyon, just like that... Though he says that I don't have to be... And Tatiana doesn't need to become the next Eraklyonese Queen either. But he wants to talk to me... To us... But to me first since I'm oldest..."_

He glanced up from his book and locked eyes with a tanned-skinned girl with brown eyes and jet black hair in a chignon.

She looked down at her food and walked past his table even faster to join her friends on the other side of the cafeteria.

_"Lydia..." _His train of thought was interrupted for a moment until he shook his head to clear it.

_"But back to this... I don't like this situation at all... But if I really want to know the truth, I'm going to have to approach him. And to do that, I'll have to bring the subject up with Mother..." _He slammed the book shut, slid it into his backpack and tried focusing on his food again.

"Hey, Malcolm! Mind if we sit? You look a bit lonely..." Jessica, with a few other people approached him.

"Free country, isn't it?" Malcolm shrugged.

"That it is. _Allegedly._" Jessica smiled as she and the others sat.

"Dude, you okay though? The past few weeks, you've been looking all distracted recently..." One guy said.

"Yeah. I mean, you totally seemed out of it in Italian class today and you're top of the class in that!" Another guy exclaimed.

"Just had a lot on my mind recently. Nothing to worry yourselves about." Malcolm waved his hand dismissively.

"Not like Isabella Huxley. Her dad's in this big scandal now. And I don't mean his last movie being absolutely crushed by the critics..." Jessica said, inclining her head to a girl with mid-back length dark red curly hair sitting some distance away from them, stabbing her chicken with the knife she held as if she wanted to kill it a second time.

"Oh?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "What scandal is this?"

"Apparently her dad was cheating on her mom with some magazine editor in New York City and had a whole family over there with her. A secret family. At least, until now..." Another guy in the group said.

_"Her situation is oddly similar to mine in some ways. Perhaps I ought to send her a card- anonymously, of course..." _Malcolm thought.

Aloud, he asked: "_What..._ how do even do that to your family? How is Bells doing?" He referred to Isabella by her nickname.

"Better than I would have. I'd have taken daddy's private jet and gone up there to strangle the bitch!" One girl growled.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the lunch period.

"Well, back to the salt mines. I've got Chemistry to get to." Malcolm got up.

"Lucky. I'd take Chemistry over Calculus any day..." Jessica muttered.

"Spanish for me."

"World History."

"Sociology."

"I've got a free period, but I'm using it to catch up on my Mandarin homework..."

Malcolm let the idle chatter of his schoolmates distract him from thoughts about... his... _father..._

* * *

><p>"Another case? Well, this is a disturbing trend... Is she okay?" Roxy paced up and down in her office at Magic Paws as she talked to her aunt on her cell phone.<p>

"We can't have expected people to accept magic here on Earth so easily, but this... The girl was only _seven,_ Roxy!" Nebula exclaimed angrily. "How would she be expected to have full control of her magic at that age, especially with a family like that?"

"All I know is that if anyone tried to hurt Malcolm and Tatiana like that, _someone_ would have to die..." Roxy's growl had a distinctly animalistic tone to it.

"Fabula and Dana have gone to Romania to meet with some of the local fairies and deal with it. They're both good with children and both are pretty knowledgeable in law. Dana especially knows European Law since she's actually European and Fabula doesn't mind being torn away from her duties as Chief Librarian here for something like this..." Nebula said.

Roxy sunk into her chair and sighed. "I'm going to go now before I blast a hole in the wall..."

Nebula nodded and ended the call.

After a few minutes of trying to calm herself down, she got up and headed back into the clinic.

"Hey! Something happen? You look a little upset..." Claire looked up to see Roxy looking perturbed. "Ouch!" Claire winced as the dog on the table snapped at her.

"If it's just a little upset that I appear, then I appear a whole lot calmer than I actually am. We can talk later. Let's give this little guy here our full attention..." Roxy snapped on some gloves and got to work.

* * *

><p>"When Colin told us he knew you, we doubted him. After all, how did he get to meet a prince? Now we know that it is true..." Colin's father, Mr Vasquez greeted Malcolm as he crossed their threshold.<p>

"I'm sure he'll tell you the full story behind it one day. Where is he?" Malcolm looked around.

"Upstairs with his brother. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some errands to go do." Mr Vasquez rushed out the door.

"Hey Colin! What's up?" Malcolm called up the stairs.

"We'll be right down, dude!" Colin's voice called down.

Malcolm took note of the chair seemingly attached to the wall at the top of the stairs.

"Here we go!" Colin helped a younger boy, possibly around Tatiana's age, if not a little older into the chair, while carrying a walker slung over his shoulder.

The boy pressed a button on an arm of the chair and it began sliding down as his brother trotted down beside it.

"Hey man!" Colin and Malcolm brofisted before the former helped his brother out of the chair and gave him the walker.

"Dude... You weren't pulling my leg!" The boy said in awe.

Colin chuckled. "Nope. Diego, this is Prince Malcolm of Tir Nan Og. Malcolm, this is my little bro, Diego. He never believed me when I said that I know you. Now he knows I wasn't pulling his leg..."

"That chair in the wall. Did you buy it?" Malcolm asked.

"Nah. I managed to build it. Dad got me the materials. Turned out to be a lot cheaper than buying the system separately and paying people to install it." Colin shrugged.

"Mother would never risk letting me do that to her house."

"Only because of the added magical factor to it."

"That is true. I might end up blowing up the house instead..."

"What's it like having magic?" Diego burst out and the two older males took notice of him again.

"Interesting."

"Just... interesting?"

"What can I say? Magic makes a lot of interesting things happen..." Malcolm shrugged.

"Like the dragon? I hear you and your friends fought a dragon!"

The prince of Tir Nan Og got the impression that if he could, Diego would be bouncing on his feet.

"Why don't you two have a chat while I go find some food for us, eh?" Colin bustled away.

"So... about the dragon?" Diego asked as they made their way to the living room and took seats.

"It's true. But only after the dragon carried off my sister and a friend of hers..." Malcolm muttered.

"Tell me the story. Tell me! I want to hear what really happened!" the younger Vasquez brother exclaimed. "Is it true? Really, really?"

"Really, really." Even though that escapade wasn't the most pleasant memory for him, he couldn't help but feel amused at Diego's enthusiasm for the story.

"And then, just at the last minute, our parents come swooping into the ravine to rescue _us._ We went to rescue Tatiana and Kendra, but ended up in need of saving ourselves..."

Once Malcolm had finished the story, Diego looked at him in awe.

"You're a real hero then. Not just some spoiled rich prince that does nothing at all like the newspapers like to say sometimes..." the younger boy said softly.

"That's why I dislike the media quite a bit sometimes. But alas, I must keep up with it and what is going on in the world. It wouldn't do for someone in my position to appear ignorant, you see..."

Diego nodded at Malcolm's statement. "Si. I can see that. You have to appear on top of things at all times..."

"Yeah. I appear to have things easy and I suppose I do compared to most people, but being a royal does have its disadvantages. I cannot do some things that the average non-magical American such as yourself could..." Malcolm sighed.

"In case you've forgotten, I'm not average either. I haven't been for nearly four years..." Diego's voice was quiet as he gave the walker a little shake.

"Oh. Oh sorry. I didn't remember..."

"No problem. Nice to see that you think I'm normal, unlike some _other _people..." Diego muttered darkly.

They remained in silence for a few minutes, until Colin returned with various food items.

"Hey guys! Nachos, salsa, cheese dip, some of that rainbow chip cake and juice... We really need to stock up on junk food..." Colin said as he set down the various items on the coffee table.

"This is cool man, no worries. In fact, I keep coming over here all the time, but you've never been to my place or rather, _places, _so... how would you and Diego like to come over to my L.A. place next weekend? My friends Duncan and Evanne will be over as well. Tatiana will be in Zenith with Kendra that weekend though, so she won't be there..." Malcolm offered.

"We get to meet more royalty?! _Cool!_" Diego exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah. Evanne's writing a report on the return of Earth's magic and got permission to come to Earth for a few days and Duncan got permission to accompany her. It's a weekend there anyway, so they won't be missed from their classes..." Malcolm shrugged.

"What are they like? Are they the cool sort of royals like you or are they snooty?" Colin asked.

"They're okay. Sometimes Duncan can speak without thinking and Evanne has a_ little_ mischievous side, but they're okay." Malcolm answered.

"We'll take your word for it then. How about a racing game? Me, you and Diego?"

"I'm in."

"Me too! I've been practicing. I'll totally beat you two on the track this time!"

"No chance, my dear little pipsqueak of a brother."

"You're on!"

The three males set up the game and quickly got into it.

* * *

><p>"Welcome back, you two." Malcolm stood in the backyard of his home as the aqua coloured portal closed behind his Androsian royal friends.<p>

"Thanks, man." Duncan embraced him in a bro-hug.

"What's on the agenda today?" Evanne asked him.

"I've got some archive stuff from different media types here and a couple things from Tir Nan Og itself. I put the stuff in the room you'll be staying in. For now though, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. He and his brother are coming. He was supposed to be at my party, but he had other obligations to fulfil..." Malcolm shrugged.

"When will they be here?" Duncan looked around.

"Soon. I gave Colin a teleporter bracelet and told him how to use it..."

A flash of silver light appeared- over the pool- and with it, the Vasquez brothers, yelling out in surprise as they hit the pool.

"Hey, you two! I didn't know it was a new thing to go swimming in your clothes..." Malcolm snorted.

"Ha, ha. Funny." Colin grumbled and swore under his breath in Spanish as he swam with his brother in tow towards the edge of the pool.

Malcolm moved forward to help them out, but Evanne used her magic on the water to lift them out, as it formed the shape of a hand.

Once they were out, she also used another spell to absorb the excess water from them and had them dry in a few seconds.

"Whoa," Diego said in awe. "Real magic!"

"Yep! Colin, Diego, I'd like you to meet Duncan and Evanne." Malcolm introduced them.

"Is teleporting normally that unpleasant?" Colin asked.

"Nope. You have to get the hang of it with practice though." Evanne said.

"My girlfriend Astoria is a master a teleportation. She says it helps if you know the destination very well..." Duncan shrugged.

"No wonder then. We have never been here before..." Colin gave Malcolm the side-eye.

"Hey, I showed you pictures so you could try to get a feel of the place, didn't I?" Malcolm shrugged, not really caring. "Anyway, better late than never in this case. Now come on in and I'll give you and Diego a tour while Duncan does whatever and Evanne gets started on her project..." he motioned for them to follow him.

* * *

><p>"This house is amazing!" Diego said in awe.<p>

"Your room looks even bigger than our whole house!" Colin said in a similar tone to his brother.

"It probably is. I grew up with this sort of thing though and I've been to homes even larger than this, so I'm used to it." Malcolm shrugged.

"You talk about this like this is normal!" Colin looked at him incredulous.

"Trust me; for a royal, a place like this is a shack. You should see Duncan and Evanne's home. Or Astoria's. Or even the palace in Tir Nan Og. Which, I must remember to invite you to one day..."

"How can you even like our home when you live somewhere like this?" Diego asked.

"Different vibe. This place here is awesome, don't get me wrong, but your house is much more normal and homey feeling..." Malcolm shrugged.

"It was much more homey when mama was still alive though..." Colin said softly.

"That is one thing we have in common, at least. Missing parents..." Diego said.

Malcolm chuckled nervously. "Yeah, missing parents indeed..."

He quickly changed the subject. "But enough of that fun stuff. You two fancy a game of pool?"

"I'm terrible at pool." Diego shook his head.

"Then we can show you how to get better, right?" Colin glanced at Malcolm.

"Indeed we can. Can you stand on your own for long?" Malcolm glanced at the walker Diego used to support himself.

"No. Well, at least, I don't really know. I haven't tried for more than a few minutes..." the younger male looked unsure.

"Very well. Let's see what we can do here then. Try holding the pool cue like this..." Malcolm held it to show him and then handed it to him.

"Alright, bro. Holding the pool cue right is just part of it. Look..." Colin took his own pool cue.

Later on, Duncan and Evanne leaned in the doorway watching the Earthling trio play.

"What's this game you're playing?" Duncan raised an eyebrow.

"It's called pool. You want in?" Malcolm asked.

"No thanks. I'm good." Duncan waved him off.

"Fine. We've had about enough of it anyway. Malcolm and the other two put away the pool cues, balls, etc.

"So... Evanne, Malcolm said you had a project to do, right?" Colin asked.

"Oh yeah. For Magical History. The Freshman year project at Alfea is for us to study an aspect of the history of a planet that isn't your native one or the one that you reside on. I chose Earth because, as you can imagine with everything happening here with magic, it would actually be fascinating and not a bore..." Evanne shrugged.

"Making good headway?" Diego asked.

"Oh yeah. I've got a basic framework worked out and everything, thanks to the material Malcolm provided for me." the Androsian princess smiled at the Earthling prince.

"What's it like going to magic school?" Diego asked.

"To tell you the truth, it's really awesome. Take school life here on Earth, add a bunch of young people, magic and hormones and life gets pretty interesting there..." Evanne chuckled.

"Dunno why Malcolm wouldn't want to go. It sounds way more interesting than the colleges here..." Colin looked at him.

"I had my reasons..." Malcolm shrugged.

"_Had?_ Why the past tense?" Colin raised an eyebrow.

"I'm actually considering school in Magix now. I need to be properly educated in Earthling ways and Magix ways to be effective for Tir Nan Og, won't I?" Malcolm answered. "_Though that might be part of it, it's not the entire truth. Even if I give Sky... my father... a maybe instead of a flat out no..."_ he thought.

"So you might join me at Red Fountain? Sweet!" Duncan grinned.

"Whoever said anything about going to Red Fountain? Oskuria College is always an option, among others..." Malcolm grinned.

"You wouldn't do that to me... would you?" Duncan asked.

"Yes, he would." Evanne said.

"I've not known him for as longs as you have and I know he would too..." Colin said in agreement.

Diego laughed at the byplay.

"Besides, Colin, there's nothing to stop _you_ from going to Red Fountain. Ever since the Winx and Malcolm's mom brought magic back to Earth, there's potential here for anyone to learn if they have the right mindset and power level..." Evanne said.

"Don't get his hopes up, Eva..." Malcolm warned her.

"Really?" Colin looked shocked. "How would I know if I have this potential?"

"If he does, would I?" Diego asked eagerly.

"What did you start, Evanne?" Malcolm looked at her, somewhat annoyed.

"I did nothing." Evanne looked innocent. A look completely out of place on her face and Malcolm and Duncan knew it.

Malcolm sighed. "Well, Eldora might be able to help..." he mused aloud.

"Really? Mom always said that Eldora was a bit... _strange..._" Duncan raised an eyebrow.

"She's not just a little strange. She's flat out weird, but Eldora knows her stuff. Besides, she helped to look after me when I was a little kid and she comes by to keep an eye on Tatiana when no one else can and we're both still in good shape..."

"Just by luck..." Duncan muttered.

"We should go! Eldora could have a lot of information about the return of Earth's magic!" Evanne suddenly exclaimed.

"You planned this all along, _didn't you?_" Malcolm narrowed his eyes at her.

"No, but thank you for thinking so highly of my intelligence that you think I'm capable of such scheming!" Evanne giggled.

Malcolm face-palmed. "Eldora's it is. I'll just give her a call first and let her know we're coming." he bustled out of the room.

When he came back a few minutes later, it was to find Duncan and Colin engrossed in a conversation about the different magic schools.

"Lucian goes to the Golden Auditorium, but you'd pretty much have to be gifted with musical magic like his. Nathan though is a year below me at Red Fountain. It all depends on where your strength lies and where you feel most comfortable. Play to that if you do turn out to have a magical gift of any kind." Duncan was saying.

"Enough chat, you two. Eldora says we can all come over. I got this for my birthday, but I've hardly ever used it since I got it..." Malcolm started.

_"Because it was a present from my so-called father..."_ he thought. _"...but I suppose I can put it to use now..." _

He held up a silver transporter bracelet with a single garnet gem embedded it.

"Let's get going then!" Colin exclaimed.

"Yeah, let's go! I wanna meet Eldora too! She sounds awesome!" Diego exclaimed.

Malcolm nodded. "Let's get this out of the way then." he pressed the gem on the bracelet and a silver portal formed in front of the group of young people.

He gestured to it and ushered the others inside, before following himself.


	6. The Unexpected

Merry Christmas, everybody! This is a gift to you! You know what_** I'd**_ like for my gift though?

_**Reviews!**_

* * *

><p>"Welcome to the Enchanted Forest..." Malcolm said as they stepped out of the portal.<p>

"Looks like something out of a Disney movie..." Colin remarked.

"Sounds like something out of a Disney movie..." Diego added.

"Ah, Disney. Nothing in it even close to real magic. Still pretty entertaining though." Evanne shrugged.

"Earthling entertainment is pretty fun..." Duncan admitted.

"You're going off track. Where's the Fairy Godmother?!" Diego piped up.

"This way..." the Earthling prince motioned for the others to follow him.

"We've always known her, but have never actually been to her home. I wonder why..." Evanne wondered.

"And we're here!" Malcolm gestured to the whimsical house just ahead, slightly hidden from view by long vines hanging from the trees above them.

Duncan and Evanne looked mildly intrigued. They grew up with magic all their lives, were heirs to the throne of a fully magical planet and were magical beings themselves. He could still tell that they seemed a bit... taken by the house.

"Quaint." he heard Duncan mutter under his breath.

Now Colin and Diego on the other hand... If this was how they reacted to Eldora's home, he'd like to see how they would react to his home in Tir Nan Og, the royal palace itself...

Diego said something in Spanish with a questioning tone to his brother and he replied, also in Spanish, with a shrug of his shoulders.

_"Italian and French. No Spanish. Maybe I should have learnt it..." _Malcolm let his mind wander for a while before shaking his head to clear it.

He reached for the front door and it opened with a touch.

"No key, amigo. How did you open the door?" Colin asked.

"Hmm..." Malcolm paused. _"Magic!"_ he said in a pretend mystical voice, waving his hands around.

Duncan, Evanne and Diego snorted with laughter as Colin face-palmed.

"Let's go in and see this Eldora..." Colin rolled his eyes.

"Indeed we shall. After you, gentlemen... _and lady..._" Malcolm bowed slightly to Evanne, who giggled.

Duncan raised his eyebrow at the little byplay between his friend and his sister, but said nothing.

* * *

><p>"Hello! Hello Malcolm and friends!" How nice to see you!" Eldora said as she poured them all some tea and set out some light snacks.<p>

"Nice to see you again, Eldora! It's been way too long! How are things?" Malcolm gingerly took a sip of his tea and when he found that it didn't taste horrible, began to drink it more earnestly.

"Going nicely. Selina was here with her kids an hour or so before you arrived. I must say that she's doing really well as Headmistress of that witch school of hers in New York..." Eldora beamed at the thought of the success of her former protégée. "And Helena and Marco are shaping up to be pretty skilled magic users themselves!"

Malcolm nodded. "So... About my friend and his brother here? Colin... and Diego Vasquez?" he asked, pointing to each as he spoke their name.

"OH! Oh right! I'd almost forgotten why you came here in the first place!" Eldora stood up.

Colin and Diego glanced at one another.

"Your friends here..." Eldora studied the Vasquez brothers briefly. "...it has been said that those with non-magical lineage, who are more receptive to the idea of magic are more likely to develop some sort of magical talent, however small or seemingly inconsequential it may be..." she mused.

"So... little unusual things I've been able to do might actually be signs of me having magic?" Colin asked.

"Indeed it could. Same for your brother here." she smiled at them kindly.

"Couldn't you do a sensor spell or something?" Duncan asked.

"I could..." Eldora seemed to consider the option.

"But magical beings can usually sense one another. Unless they have the ability to hide their magical signature, which is pretty rare..." Malcolm said, sounding confused. "...so if they 'are' magical, shouldn't you, Duncan, Evanne or I be able to sense it near instantly?"

Colin and Diego just sat there, looking totally befuddled.

"Not always. You see, a person might have grown up with magic powers all their life and never know they had them. The power in them is dormant, but could still be sensed by another as it is still there. Magic _potential, _on the other hand... There is the _possibility _of developing magic." Eldora explained.

"How do we develop it then?" Diego asked.

"There is a test. Or combination of tests, rather. If you pass, I myself will see about some training to develop that potential into actual magical ability. I do have plenty of experience in teaching magic, after all..." the fairy godmother smiled.

"What do we do for these... tests?" Colin raised an eyebrow.

"Some spells you must undergo and then a challenge that you must complete. Of course, some are put in a situation that their magic emerges out of need, but I don't think you'll want to go through that..."

"Situations like what?" Diego asked.

"When you're under a situation that might cause emotions to run really high like fear or anger, for instance..." Evanne said.

"You _really _don't want that..." Malcolm remembered what his mother had told him and his sister about the circumstances surrounding her first transformation.

"Hmm... Of course, it would be easier if you went to one of the magic schools. They have the MagiTech equipment there to do all the scans necessary..." Eldora suggested.

"Why didn't you suggest this earlier then?!" Malcolm sounded exasperated.

"I didn't remember. Silly me!" Eldora waved it off unconcernedly.

Colin and Diego bean muttering to one another in Spanish again.

"Well then. We can go back to the Tir Nan Og Institute and use their..." Eldora was interrupted as the crystal ball in a stand in a corner of the room began to flash and make noise.

"You mind if I answer? It could be important!" Eldora got up before anyone could answer.

"She's really weird..." Colin and Diego said in unison.

"Tell us about it." Malcolm, Duncan and Evanne answered together.

Malcolm glanced over in the corner to see an image of a young, thickset teen girl with thick black hair pulled into a ponytail by a red band, tan skin and hazel eyes behind red-framed, oval-shaped glasses projected above the crystal ball.

"Why hello there, Helena! Your mother just barely left! Did you forget something here and needed me to send it back?" Eldora smiled.

_"Mom was attacked!"_ Helena wailed.

Overhearing this, all the young people sat up straight.

"What?" Eldora sounded confused.

"_Mom. Was. __**Attacked! **_She teleported Marco and I right outside Central Park after we left you, 'cause she wanted to just spend some time out with us while dad's away... People came out of nowhere and attacked us on our walk! We managed to make it back to the Academy, but we haven't heard from her since then!" Helena fretted.

"I'll let Nebula know, then I'll be on my way over there." Eldora's face and tone became serious- which was an expression Malcolm had never seen on her in his relatively short lifetime.

"I'm afraid we'll have to cut this visit short, guys and gals. Something came up..." the Fairy Godmother turned to her visitors as the projection ended.

"We heard, Eldora. Mind if I come along? I might be able to render some assistance." the Earthling prince offered.

"It's best if you don't. I don't know exactly what it is I'm getting into here, but if they attacked one of Earth's most influential magicals, what do you think would happen if they got a hold of you?" Eldora shook her head.

"You have a good point there..." Malcolm acquiesced.

_"Go home."_ Eldora narrowed her eyes at them as she disappeared into the portal she created.

Evanne looked at Malcolm, as did the others. "So... Are you actually going home?" her tone suggested that she hoped he wouldn't.

"Yes. I'm not jumping into a situation I know nothing about..." Malcolm narrowed his eyes at the Androsian princess and she mirrored his expression, adding a pout for good measure.

"The Dragon Incident?" Colin pointed out.

"_That was different..._" Malcolm muttered. "_Anyway..._ home." he used his bracelet to make a portal back home and was the last to enter it before it closed.

* * *

><p>"And CNN got hold of the story..." Malcolm noted wryly as he turned off the television in the living room the next morning.<p>

His mother had come and gone quickly yesterday evening, saying that her aunt had told her at work about 'the Selina incident' and she was going to Tir Nan Og and then onwards to New York City to find out what was really happening. She hadn't been back since...

_"These people were so bold as to attack Selina and now she's missing... That's not normal. Selina is a powerful, ferocious fighter. She'd normally be able to take out some foes even bigger and more powerful than her through sheer wit. These people must have had some really strong magic..."_ he mused.

"Dude... Why up so early?" Duncan yawned as he stumbled into the room, interrupting Malcolm's musings.

"Seven thirty in the morning is hardly early, Duncan." Malcolm said, somewhat amused at the Androsian prince's behaviour.

Colin and Diego snickered in the background, breakfasts in hand.

When Evanne stumbled in behind him, hair loose and completely frizzy as if a tornado hit it, eyes heavy with sleep and her nightgown looking like it had been run through the ringer, it was then that the three Earthlings truly lost it, bursting out in laughter.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't _Sleeping Beauty..._" Malcolm chortled at the sight of the usually immaculate Evanne looking so disarrayed.

"Why don't you do us all a favour and _go to hell!_" Evanne growled.

Colin, Diego and Duncan laughed even more while Malcolm simply chuckled.

"Someone obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed," he snorted, even with the death glare the Androsian princess was currently giving him.

"You should have seen Malcolm when he got up this morning. Glasses falling off his face as he struggled to put them on, hair spikier than an anime character's and drool running down the side of his mouth. Diego managed to get a picture!" Colin waved around a cell phone.

_"You..."_ Malcolm narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You _didn't._"

"You're right. I didn't. _He_ did." Colin laughed, thumbing Diego.

"I WANNA SEE!" Evanne yelled, suddenly wide awake.

"Delete that picture, Colin," Malcolm growled. "or _else..._"

"Or else _what?_" Colin taunted.

Malcolm leapt across the sofa, abandoning his breakfast plate on a corner table.

"Oh no you don't!" Colin flung out his hand towards Malcolm, bracing himself for impact.

Only the impact never came.

Malcolm was thrown up in the air and over the couch, luckily landing on the soft carpeting rather than the glass coffee table he narrowly missed.

Everyone went silent.

The young people looked at one another confused, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Malcolm... what just happened?" Diego asked.

"I don't know. I didn't throw myself over the sofa..." Malcolm got up from his sprawled position on the floor, brushing himself and straightening his glasses.

"Perhaps," said Evanne. "you should ask _him._" she inclined her head towards Colin, who was staring at his hand, examining them as if he had never seen hands before.

"It could have been a fluke..." Duncan suggested.

"Or perhaps not. I have some of mine and Tatiana's old basic magic textbooks. We could try some things from there and see if it happens again..." Malcolm managed to say once he composed himself.

"This is all just too weird..." Colin remarked.

"You're telling me..." Diego agreed.

_"You haven't seen weird yet..."_ Evanne thought.

"But..." the younger Vasquez brother continued. "...what about me? Why is he showing magic now and not me?" he pouted.

"Magic works in mysterious ways. Some first-gen magicals show magic from as young as three. Some can be up to their mid-twenties when they finally manifest magic." Malcolm shrugged.

"My first deliberate spell was when I was six. I was mad at this nitwit here," Evanne thumbed her brother, who frowned. "so I ended up sticking him to a wall with Morphix. It was one of my best childhood memories. Dad was so proud." Evanne smiled at the memory.

"_Mom wasn't._ I do remember her trying to scold you and un-stick me from the wall at the same time." Duncan growled.

"Oh, don't get fussed, my dear big bro. We're here to help Malcolm's friends, remember?" Evanne smiled sweetly at him.

"As I recall, we came to Earth to help you do research for your project. Your project is done. We can leave right now actually." Duncan growled.

_"You wouldn't dare."_ Evanne's eyes actually began to glow and her braids crackled with energy.

_**"Not here, not now."**_ Malcolm's tone was firm as he stepped between the brother and sister, arms stretched out, palms up and slivery shields on either side of him. "I would rather not have to explain to Mother and Tatiana how our home became a wasteland and I'm sure you wouldn't want to explain _that _catastrophe to your parents either. I hear that King Riven and Queen Aisha can be pretty damn scary when they're angry. Not to mention my own Mother."

Duncan and Evanne flinched at the thought.

"Well... I think it's clear that we're not really going to get anywhere right now, so... Can we go to the park or something? To clear your heads?" Diego suggested quietly.

_"Fine!"_

Both Androsian siblings spoke in unison, but Malcolm failed to drop the shields until he saw them both somewhat calm.

"Does... Does this happen often?" Colin asked hesitantly.

_"More than you could ever imagine."_ Malcolm rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"So... park then?" Diego asked.

"Sure, why not? We can just cool out there and I'll put in a call tomorrow to try and help you out, Colin. I can promise you that, at least. And lend you a few of my magic books when we get back." Malcolm turned back to Colin.

"Yeah, thanks. Let's go man. I could do with a Whopper or something right now." he said.

"But we just finished breakfast!" Diego looked at his brother oddly.

"So? A man's gotta eat. You wouldn't know. You aren't a man." Colin teased.

"Neither are you. You're not turning eighteen until August!"

"Oh, a Whopper! That's from Burger King, right? Do they serve coffee too?" Evanne asked.

"Yep, but I don't like coffee so I don't know how good it is. Judging by reports from Elodie though, coffee for you is a bad idea. No caffeine for you!" Malcolm exclaimed.

Evanne pouted.

"Why not go to dad's restaurant instead? His food tastes better than Burger King anyway and he makes picnic baskets so we can take the food with us to the park!" Diego suggested.

"Eh... Not a bad idea. I've never had food from the Dominican Republic before. What's it like?" Malcolm asked.

"It's like a lot of things! From the DR's colonial history, it has Spanish, Taino and African influences and some Middle Eastern influence mixed in there too!" Diego eagerly spoke of the food of his ancestral country.

"He wants to be a chef one day. So when you get him started up on topics like food, you learn to expect things like that eventually." Colin shrugged at the questioning looks Duncan and Evanne were giving him as they all left the house.

* * *

><p>"I'm glad we got to enjoy the weekend here. Was a nice case of combining business with pleasure." Evanne smiled.<p>

"And I liked having your company. It was nice introducing two old good friends of mine to two newer good friends." Malcolm smiled back.

"Seriously though. This city is amazing. I'm glad we played tourist today." Duncan relaxed against a tree.

"I wonder why we never actually came here before though. Any time we came to Earth, it was always to Gardenia or straight into Tir Nan Og..." Evanne wondered, laying flat on the grass, watching the clouds float by in the clear, blue sky.

"Perhaps in the summer, we can do an All-American tour. Los Angeles is hardly the be-all, end-all on the list of places to see in the United States. And while Gardenia has seen a surge in popularity since the Magical Renaissance, it's still not..." Malcolm was interrupted by Colin shaking his shoulder.

"Maybe it's just the newfound magic in me that's messing with my head, but... don't you sense something?" Colin asked quietly.

"Like what?"

"Like something is really wrong nearby. I don't know. It's just a sudden offsetting feeling I just had and it won't go away..."

Malcolm suddenly felt a shiver go down his spine and by looking at the suddenly perturbed looks on Duncan's and Evanne's faces, they felt something as well.

"Is it just me, or did..." Duncan asked.

"What? What the hell am I missing?" Diego asked as he noticed everyone else go silent suddenly.

There was a sudden spike of dark magic not far off and the three more experienced teens stood up, tense.

A figure moved towards them slowly, stumbling as they came.

Her short, blonde hair was a complete mess, her clothes were tattered, she sported several cuts and bruises and her left arm was twisted at an odd angle.

"Oh my goodness. Isn't that..." Evanne trailed off in horror as recognition dawned in her eyes.

"Yes, Evanne. That's Selina. Guess she's not missing anymore…" Malcolm looked just as shocked as everyone else.

Selina's eyes looked glazed over, but as soon as she saw the teenagers, they appeared to focus more.

Duncan and Colin rushed forward to catch her as she collapsed to the ground.

"They got me pretty bad..." Selina coughed violently, spitting up blood.

"What? The people who attacked you in New York? Come on, Selina. Don't go out on us now. Remember Helena and Marco!" Malcolm started to fret.

"Yes, yes they're here. The problem is... they're not in New York anymore either... If this is California that my spell..." Selina finally passed out, slumped in Colin's arms.

"Not in..." Malcolm tried to make sense of what she was saying, but then he heard it.

"Colin, Diego, take my car and go back to my home with Selina, please." he tossed them the car keys, speaking in an odd tone as he kept glancing back towards the forest.

Diego opened his mouth as if to question him, but Colin gave him a glare that silenced his younger brother and the two hustled off as quickly as they could.

"Well, well, well. Look what the witch leader led us to. Earth's little magic prince and two friends of his..." about a dozen figures emerged from the forest, all dressed from head to toe in black, with masks covering their faces, a tall male figure leading them.

"Those aren't just any friends. Those are the Prince and Princess of Andros. _More_ magicals." another person spat.

"And highly influential royal ones at that..." yet another spoke with a female tone, sounding disgusted.

"What do you know? Lose one bit of prey and it leads us to another... _more valuable._" the apparent leader smirked.

"Yeah, no. I don't think so." Evanne transformed and clenched her fists at her side, pulsating with magical energy.

"Evanne, _no._ We don't have to-" Malcolm started to speak, but then had to throw up a shield quickly as the leader drew out a rather large gun out of seemingly nowhere.

And fired, breaking through the magical shield with a single bullet.


	7. Trouble

_**A year of Duality! A whole year since the first chapter was published! Have a chapter to celebrate! **_

* * *

><p>"DUCK!" Malcolm hollered.<p>

The bullets whizzed past them for the most part, with Malcolm throwing up a quick half shield around his arm that bounced some of them off.

"We need to get out of here! I did not come here for a fight. All I wanted was information for my school report!" Evanne exclaimed, dodging a missile from one of their assailants.

"Only schoolwork. _Sure..._" Duncan somehow managed to roll his eyes as he fought one attacker.

"Please don't start that again!" Malcolm kicked out at someone rushing at him, catapulting the person a few feet away, crashing into a tree.

Out the corner of his eye, he saw three people attempting to sneak up on Evanne.

"Evanne! Behind you!" Malcolm shouted.

Evanne turned around sharply, forming a long Morphix whip with several smaller whips attached to it.

"Get the hell away from me!" she yelled as she swung it.

Blasts of energy fired from each individual whip, throwing them back.

"Daddy always said that guys should stay at least five feet away from me. I'm inclined to agree with him in this case!" Evanne quipped.

Malcolm uppercut one opponent with an energy reinforced fist, only for another to take his place.

This one a female, judging by the way her clothing clung to her figure...

"Hello there, _Your Highness._ Nice day today, isn't it?" her voice, although nonchalant, sent chills down Malcolm's spine as he narrowly dodged the whoosh of a blade that narrowly missed his neck.

Not that he would ever admit that...

"It _was_. Hanging out with some friends, taking a break from my schoolwork, just being a regular teenager for the day... At least, it was until you all showed up to ruin that..." he replied coolly as they began to circle one another.

Some of her group tried to come to her aid, but she waved them off.

"Leave me! I can handle him!" she commanded.

Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "So_ you're_ the head honcho here, huh?"

"Why? Surprised to see a lady in charge?"

"You're hardly a lady. Ladies don't go around attacking and kidnapping people..."

He blocked a punch from her with a shield. "My guess is that you're from the Anti-Magic Movement..."

The woman scoffed as she drew a knife. "Oh _please_. Is that the name you magicals have given it? We are _The Liberation._"

As she was about to bring it down, the knife was blasted out of her hand.

_"You..."_ her eyes seemed full of pure hatred as she turned to face Evanne, who waved cheekily at her.

"Come on, Malcolm. We've beaten a dragon before. We can take care of these creeps!" Duncan said as he danced past him, dodging a bullet from someone.

"In case you forgot, our parents had to come save our asses!"

"Details, details! But seriously, we need to get out of here. Do the thing with the- _Evanne!_" both princes whipped around at the sound of her scream.

"Just think. Selina was a good catch," the female who had fought Malcolm smirked as they took in the sight of Evanne in the chokehold grasp of a man who looked bigger and taller than both of them put together.

"But an actual princess from the Magical Dimension is even better. Could have gotten you too, Prince Malcolm. You will never know how close you were to that fate..."

Duncan growled in fury and started to move forward as the man tightened his hold on his sister's neck, but Malcolm threw out a hand to stop him.

_"Don't be rash."_ Malcolm whispered.

Evanne's transformation faded away and she looked on the verge of passing out from the lack of air.

_"We need to get her away from that creep, but how?"_ Malcolm thought worriedly. Evanne was like another sister to him. He certainly wouldn't want to see her hurt...

Duncan's eyes widened by a fraction as he saw his sister slowly bringing up her left hand (her right arm tight in the man's grasp).

_"Portal time, dude."_ Duncan whispered.

Malcolm fiddled with his bracelet just as Evanne managed to fire a large glob of Morphix into the man's face, choking him.

_"Now you know what it feels like."_ she said, sounding hoarse as she sprinted towards her brother and their friend.

Malcolm threw a couple of energy blasts out knocking several of their opponents off their feet and ran forward to catch Evanne as she stumbled forward.

A portal formed quickly and before the attackers could react, the three stepped through it, the boys supporting Evanne between them.

"NO!" the woman howled in fury._ "We almost had them!"_ she whipped off her mask, letting loose some long, straight dark hair that hung over her face, hiding her sure to be furious expression as she punched a tree in her frustration.

"It wasn't all a failure today, I think." Another woman, the only other female in the group spoke.

"Oh?" the first woman turned to her, her face still hidden by her curtain of hair. "How is that?"

"We're sending them a message. We are no longer the weaklings. _They are._"

"I suppose you're right. Let's get out of here." they slunk back into the forest.

* * *

><p>"I called our families, you two. Well, actually, I called Aunt Nebula and she said she'd pass on the message..." Malcolm sat backwards on a chair he had pulled up to Evanne's bedside, his chin propped up on the back of the chair.<p>

Duncan sat on the other side of the bed, looking much more solemn than Malcolm had ever seen him.

"And yet, no word from Colin and Diego with Selina. I am worried..."

_"My neck feels so sore..."_ Evanne groaned. "I totally need some healing salve for an icepack. A massage would work too..."

"Evanne. Glad to see you awake again." Malcolm smiled at her.

"Thanks to you and Duncan, of course." she smiled back.

_"We will, we will ROCK you!"_

Malcolm's phone, which was sitting on a corner table, filled the room with the sounds of Queen as it rang.

"I'll leave you two alone to talk..." he glanced at the caller ID and saw that Colin was finally calling him.

* * *

><p>"Talk to me, Colin." Malcolm ran briskly down the stairs and into the living room.<p>

_"We managed to ditch the guys who came after us. They tried to get us. But Diego managed some weird spell thingies and lifted some stone up under the ground of their car!"_ Colin exclaimed.

_"It was so cool..."_ Malcolm could hear Diego's voice in the background.

_"And it was like I could see every move they were planning and knew exactly what to do to avoid it!"_

_"Two magical brothers, it seems..."_ Malcolm murmured. "Listen. How's Selina?"

_"Conscious, but in a lot of pain."_

"Bring her over here. The address is programmed into the GPS. Remote and passwords for the gate are in the glove box."

_"You got it, Princey!"_

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "See you soon." he hung up.

Not five minutes later, he sensed a portal opening up on the grounds and looked out the window to see who it was.

"Princess Aisha and Prince Riven..." he went outside to greet them.

"Malcolm," Aisha inclined her head towards him as some sort of greeting. "Where are our son and daughter?"

"Upstairs, in the room Evanne's using this time. Do you want me to come up with you?"

"That won't be necessary. We can find them on our own." Riven led his wife off.

"Okay then." Malcolm conjured himself a lawn chair and plonked it in the grass next to the driveway.

Another portal opened up and out of it, stepped an olive skinned man with a silver streak in his black hair, brown eyes and a build that looked as if he belonged in the army.

"Malcolm..." the man looked and sounded truly tired, and spoke with an Italian accent. "I heard that you and your friends found my wife..."

"We did, Mr Castellano. She's... not here yet though. My friend and his brother are bringing her here in my car..."

"Selina... _Non so cosa farei senza di lei..._"

Having some understanding of Italian and having hearing sharper than the average person, Malcolm understood the worried man's murmurs.

"Do you need a chair too?" he asked him.

"No. I cannot sit. I do now feel like it. I will not back able to relax until I see for myself that Selina is okay..."

Malcolm's car pulled into the driveway just then.

"_Mr Castellano..._" Malcolm turned to look the older man in the eye.

"Selina... Professor Castellano... Doesn't look to be in such good shape, sir. I needed to let you know before you... see her.. "

He looked as if he was steeling up himself before replying.

"I will be fine."

"Fine." Malcolm nodded and led the older man over to his car.

"Diego, be careful getting out. Your legs and Selina..." Colin started.

"You act as if I'm crippled. I am not! My legs may not work as well as they should, but I can still walk!" Diego swung open the passenger door, got his walker out and propping himself up slowly, got out of the car.

Colin opened the back door and Malcolm moved quickly to his side.

"Easy, there. _Easy..._" Between the two of them, they easily got Selina out of the car.

"Let's get her inside quickly. Diego, can you stay out here and wait for any of my family to arrive?"

_"Aye-aye, Captain Klaus!"_ Diego saluted him.

Selina's husband was at their side from the moment they got her out of the car until they got her into a spare bedroom.

* * *

><p>When the two young men returned to the living room, it was to find Roxy, Nebula, Morgana and Rick there, as well as the Major Fairies.<p>

Roxy moved forward to engulf her son in a hug, catching him completely by surprise.

_"Never do that to me again!"_ she exclaimed, holding him out at arm's length and looking him up and down as if to ascertain for herself that her son was well and truly okay.

"It's not like I deliberately go out looking for trouble, Mother..." Malcolm glared at Colin and Diego out of the corner of his eye as they stood aside in a corner, snickering at him.

"Nevertheless, try. I don't know what I would do if I lost you or Tatiana..." she hugged him again so tightly that Malcolm would swear that she snapped a bone in his spine before _finally_ letting him go.

"Eldora has gone back to New York to get the school nurse from Apex Academy here to help Selina and see if she needs to go to Magix for further treatment. Meanwhile, I think your friends' parents need to be here as well, since they were also involved..." Nebula nodded towards Colin and Diego.

"Father only, Your Majesty." Colin said.

Nebula nodded.

"Well, he should be at home now, Your Majesty..." Diego spoke up.

"Very well. Malcolm?" she turned to look at him.

"On it." Malcolm made another portal.

"It's your house. You go in first." he gestured to the brothers.

"When you come back, be ready to tell us what happened. I'm sure it will be an _interesting_ story..." Nebula's tone was a clear dismissal.

Once they were gone, the adults began to talk.

"These Anti-Magic people have _really_ done it this time..." Rick muttered.

"Attitudes like this were why we wanted our revenge on the humans in the first place. I know that the majority of them are not as extreme as these foolhardy people were, but _still..._" Diana muttered.

"To think that they were so bold as to kidnap Selina and when she escaped, chasing after her..." Aurora said.

"Not to mention attacking my grandson and his friends in broad daylight..." Morgana said.

"I'll go get us some drinks. You don't mind, do you, dear?" Rick asked his daughter.

"Not at all, dad. You know where the kitchen is and where I keep all the alcohol in the house..." Roxy rubbed her temples, feeling the frustration at everything going on around her starting to build up.

Again.

"I'll go check with our Androsian guests..." Nebula stood up and left the room.

Roxy sighed. First with Sky deciding he wanted to be a real father at this point in their children's lives and this Anti-Magic movement...

Was it too much to ask for a peaceful life for her, Malcolm and Tatiana?


	8. Aftermath

_Today is six years since I've been on the site, so have a chapter to celebrate!_

* * *

><p>"Start from the beginning. I want to know everything that happened." Nebula said once they'd all gathered in the living room.<p>

Mr Vasquez looked like a fish out of water as he looked around at the various magical people and royalty around him. And his boys had magic too? It was a lot to take in, combined with the trouble that he was hearing that they'd got in...

"It was pretty much just a normal day. Colin, Diego and I showed Duncan and Evanne a few nice places around town. We got food from Mr Vasquez, then we headed to the park and talked about magic as we ate. Then our Magic Sense went off (including Colin), Selina shows up out of nowhere looking like they really did a number on her. I told Colin and Diego to take her here in my car and then our attackers showed up and all hell broke loose." Malcolm said.

"What did they say to you? Did they say anything?" Morgana asked.

"They talked about 'losing one bit of prey and leading them to someone more valuable', apparently including us in that." Duncan spoke up.

"I wasn't about all of that, so I transformed and they apparently took that as go time and decided to shoot at us with these monster guns that I thought I'd only ever see in an Earthling action movie..." Evanne said, shuddering and Aisha held her closer.

"They'd surrounded us and all of them were armed. They outnumbered us at least three to one, even after some left to chase after Colin and Diego... Then there was this woman amongst them who decided that she could take me on. She told me some rather _interesting_ things..." Malcolm said.

"Interesting _how?_" Roxy narrowed her eyes.

"They call themselves The Liberation. She was apparently the leader of their little thug squad, though I don't know if she was the overall head... Then she was about to stab me, but Evanne blasted her knife out of her hand. Duncan and I turned to fight other people, but then..." Malcolm eyed Evanne.

"_I..._ I was fighting that woman and some others who came to help her and while I was distracted by them, others managed to sneak up on me from behind and grab me." Evanne looked down, feeling ashamed. "I screamed out and drew the others' attention to me, but then the man holding me... He was _huge_ and strong and he had me in a chokehold grip. I could barely move or even _breathe,_ let alone fight back. Magic or no..."

Malcolm heard Riven quietly swearing under her breath and Aisha's scowl only deepened as she held her daughter even closer.

"He was... he was basically strangling her in front of us and anytime we tried to move, he just tightened his grip," Duncan closed his eyes and clenched his fists, trying to calm himself down. "Her fairy form even faded away and she was about to pass out when she mustered up the strength to conjure a glob of Morphix and fire it into the guy's face. Took him completely by surprise."

"Evanne stumbled forward and I managed to catch her before she fell and fired off a few energy blasts to distract them while I conjured a portal back here. Before they could do anything else, Duncan and I hauled Evanne through it and we got back here, but not before Evanne had actually passed out. Duncan brought her upstairs to recover as soon as we got back and then I called you. I tried to call Mr Vasquez too, but he wasn't home, I didn't have any of his other numbers and Colin and Diego hadn't made it back yet..." Malcolm finished.

"What happened on your end?" Morgana turned to the Vasquez boys.

"Well, Your Majesty..." Colin began, glancing aside at his brother. "When we left the park with Mrs Castellano... er... _Selina_ rather, some of those people in the park came after us as well. We managed to help her into the back seat and got Diego to sit next to her to try to keep her comfortable as I drove. We got out onto the road and that car chase was like something out of an action movie. Then someone there pulled out a gun and it was like I knew exactly which way to turn the car and dodge so that no bullet would hit us or the car!"

"Hmm... It sounds like perhaps you may have a bit of a psychic talent. One that should definitely be honed." Morgana noted. "But do continue, Colin."

"Yes... Well, my powers aren't exactly 'honed' as you referred to them so I couldn't exactly avoid everything without a little help from by little brother here..." Colin put an arm around Diego. "He has some sort of earth related powers. When I wasn't quite out of the path of some flying missile, he managed to lift the earth out from under the ground wherever our pursuers went. He was amazing. Kept a cool head during it all and everything!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah. I just... knew what to do. Focused a bit on the area of ground that I wanted to move and it actually listened to me. _Every time!_ Granted, some of the time it didn't quite listen to me as well as I would have liked it to, but it reacted to my will every time!" Diego exclaimed.

"That will happen if you're completely new to magic. It is nothing to worry about." Morgana reassured him.

"What is to worry about however, is these blatant attacks on them. What are you going to do about them?" Riven asked.

"Believe me; we're going to go after them all we can. Malcolm and Tatiana will not be going anywhere alone-" Roxy started, but Malcolm cut her off.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa._ Hold it right there, _Mother._" Malcolm stood up. "I am not exactly a little kid anymore. I can take care of myself and I can fight. I refuse to be chaperoned around the place like a little kid! Tatiana I can understand, but _why me?_"

Even Colin and Diego looked at him incredulously, never knowing him to be one to speak against an authority figure.

Roxy narrowed her eyes at him, but Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest and stared right back at her, his expression resolute.

"You got lucky today. Duncan and Evanne were with you. Colin and Diego were there and helped as they could. What would have happened had you been _alone and outnumbered?!_" Roxy exclaimed. "Do you really think I want to see you hurt- _or worse?_"

"Decisions do not have to be made right here and now." Nebula spoke up, ending the potential mother-son quarrel before it began. "But at least we know what happened."

Malcolm looked between Nebula and his mother and sat down.

"Excuse me," Mr Vasquez spoke up, addressing Nebula. "But I want to know what this means for my boys as well. They were involved, but they do not have as much prowess with their magic as do your great nephew and the Prince and Princess of Andros..."

"That is easily solved. They may come and train in Tir Nan Og if they wish. In fact, since your older son is of age, he might even consider going to college in the Realm of Magix..."

"Well, since our part in this is over, I think we should leave." Riven said, standing up.

"Go on ahead." Morgana nodded. "We will, naturally, be keeping in touch."

"Duncan, Evanne. Let's go get your things and then we'll be going." Aisha followed her children upstairs.

"I... magic school?" Colin started.

"Certainly. There is the Magical Institute of Technology- as Malcolm tells me you are technologically inclined, there is the Red Fountain School for Specialists, Oskuria College for Wizards... There are many options to choose from. As magic is still relatively rare on this planet, there may be diversity scholarships available to you- and if your grades are excellent ones, academic scholarships as well." Nebula explained.

"The thought didn't even have time to occur to me..." Colin mused.

"Consider it. You showed great potential in today's events..." Morgana said.

"I can get you some more information about it if you like," Malcolm offered. "but you should probably go home and rest. You should know that the events of this afternoon will likely become publicised soon and when the rush of phone calls in..."

_"Dios Mio..."_ Mr Vasquez's eyes widened in realisation.

* * *

><p><em>"Malcolm! I heard what happened! Mommy called to tell Tecna and then she called me to the phone and- are you okay? Those bad guys didn't hurt you, did they?"<em> Tatiana spoke in a rush as soon as his mother handed over her cell phone as they sat together in the living room some time after everyone had left.

"I am _fine,_ little sis. There's nothing to worry about. I am fine, I am safe. Duncan and Evanne are safe, even though Evanne got a little bit hurt in the incident. She's fine though. Even Colin and Diego are okay and they only manifested magic less than a day before they had to use it in a fight..."

_"Are you __**sure**__ you're okay? You may be annoying sometimes, but you're still a good big brother!" _Tatiana didn't sound any less worried than before.

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "And you can be a rather irritating little girl at times too, Tatiana. _I am fine._ I have told Mother this, I have told my friends from school this and those in Magix... I'm kind of tired of hearing people asking if I'm fine..."

_"Well, excuse us for being concerned..."_ Tatiana huffed.

Malcolm sighed. "Anyway, you've heard me. You've confirmed that I'm alive... Go on back to enjoying the rest of the time you have left with Kendra."

_"Okay then. Sophia wants to talk to you now!"_ Tatiana handed over the phone to Sophia.

"Before you start, Sophia. I am fine. No lasting injuries. A bit shaken up, but I'll get over that quickly enough."

_"That's good to hear. Goodness knows what the rest of us would do without you..."_ Sophia said.

"Move along rather quickly, I'm sure. Elodie probably wouldn't really care." Malcolm shrugged.

_"Nonsense. She doesn't show emotion much, but I'm sure that she cares about you... somewhere..."_

"That somewhere must be deep down inside her since anyone hardly ever sees her smiling..." Malcolm muttered.

Sophia rolled her eyes. _"Anyway, gotta go. I promised Dad that I'd help him refurbish the family hovercraft and it's about time that we continue with our work on it for the day. It's actually pretty fun!"_

"Okay then. Go on and have your fun getting all oily and greasy."

_"Trust me, I will. Sophia out!" _

And with that, Sophia ended the call and Malcolm handed back his mother's cell phone to her.

"You have a lot of concerned friends calling for you..." Roxy noted as she slipped the phone into a pocket.

"Yeah, well... That's how it is." Malcolm shrugged. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go check my social media accounts. I'm sure they're blowing up with what happened to me and the others earlier..."

Roxy closed her eyes and sighed as she watched her son go upstairs.

* * *

><p>The comments on his public Facebook page had completely blown up in the hours since.<p>

Many of his fans were commenting, asking if he was okay while other not-so fans had found their way to the page and their comments...

It was best to just forget about those...

He paused as he clicked the little box to type his message.

_"Hey fans! I guess by now you've heard of what happened to me, a couple of friends and Selina Castellano here in LA a couple hours earlier. We are all fine and Mrs Castellano is getting the help that she needs. Here is what I can tell you about those events at this time. More information will come out later."_

He then proceeded to give a summation of the events, but left out a few details he wasn't sure should be public yet.

_"There will likely be a press conference tomorrow. My relatives are dealing with that. I may most likely speak at it, so you should get more information then. Until then, MK out."_

He looked over the message, nodded in approval and clicked post.

In mere seconds, dozens of comments appeared under the post.

_"Damn, they're fast..."_ Malcolm thought as he exited Facebook.

He heard the phone ringing downstairs, but ignored it as he shut down the computer and flopped into his bed with his tablet instead.

_"Malcolm!"_ Roxy's voice called from downstairs.

"Yes, Mother?" he called back.

_"Get down here. Someone wants to talk to you!"_

Malcolm sighed, resting down the tablet and leaving his room.

* * *

><p>Roxy stood in the kitchen, next to the phone as it rested on the counter.<p>

"You should know before you answer that, Malcolm... _It's your father on the line..._"

Malcolm stopped in mid-reach for the phone.

"He really wants to hear from you if you're okay. I told him what happened today, you know..." Roxy looked a bit apprehensive at her son's sudden poker face.

Malcolm sighed. "There's no avoiding this issue forever, I suppose..." he picked up the phone.

"I'll leave you alone to talk..." Roxy left the room.

"Hello?"

_"Hello, Malcolm."_ Sky's voice came through clearly. _"I hear that you had a bit of unwelcolme excitement today..."_


End file.
